Self-reported impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, affective responding, and subjective well-being: A Swedish survey

A rapid stream of research confirms that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat to mental health and psychological well-being. It is therefore important to identify both hazardous and protective individual factors during the pandemic. The current research explored the relationships between self-re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-10, Vol.16 (10), p.e0258778-e0258778
Main Authors: Gröndal, Maria, Ask, Karl, Luke, Timothy J, Winblad, Stefan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology and Life Sciences
Cognitive ability
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Emotions
Epidemics
Exercise
Health risks
Impulsive behavior
Influence
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental depression
Mental health
Pandemics
Polls & surveys
Psychological aspects
Psychological factors
Psychology
Psykologi
Social Sciences
Surveys
Sweden
Well being
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Summary:A rapid stream of research confirms that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat to mental health and psychological well-being. It is therefore important to identify both hazardous and protective individual factors during the pandemic. The current research explored the relationships between self-reported affective responding, perceived personal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subjective well-being. An online survey (N = 471) conducted in Sweden between June and September, 2020, showed that higher levels of irritability, impulsivity, and the tendency to experience and express anger were generally associated with more severe personal consequences of the pandemic, particularly in areas related to family life, work/study, and finances. While more severe impacts of the pandemic in these areas of life were directly associated with lower subjective well-being, emotion regulation through cognitive reappraisal appeared to moderate the extent to which consequences of the pandemic in other areas of life (i.e., social, free-time and physical activities) translated into decreased well-being. This suggests that cognitive reappraisal may serve to protect against some of the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health. Overall, the results indicate that the perceived consequences of the pandemic are multifaceted and that future research should examine these consequences using a multidimensional approach.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0258778