The good, the bad, and the mixed: Experiences during COVID-19 among an online sample of adults

Studies have outlined the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic to psychological health. However, the potential within-individual diversity of experiences during COVID-19, and how such experiences relate to indices of psychological distress and COVID-19-specific stressors, remains to be exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-06, Vol.17 (6), p.e0269382-e0269382
Main Authors: Mills, Devin J, Petrovic, Julia, Mettler, Jessica, Hamza, Chloe A, Heath, Nancy L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Biology and Life Sciences
Control
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Endorsements
Epidemics
Evaluation
Longitudinal studies
Medical research
Medicine and Health Sciences
Medicine, Experimental
Mental disorders
Mental health
Pandemics
Perceptions
Psychological aspects
Psychological stress
Public participation
Social aspects
Social isolation
Social Sciences
Sociodemographics
Students
United States
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Summary:Studies have outlined the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic to psychological health. However, the potential within-individual diversity of experiences during COVID-19, and how such experiences relate to indices of psychological distress and COVID-19-specific stressors, remains to be explored. A large online sample of American MTurk Workers (N = 3,731; M.sub.age = 39.54 years, SD = 13.12; 51.70% female) completed short assessments of psychological distress, COVID-19-specific stressors (e.g., wage loss, death), and seven items assessing negative and positive COVID-19 experiences. Latent profile analyses were used to identify underlying profiles of COVID-19 experiences. A four-profile solution was retained representing profiles that were: (1) predominantly positive (n = 839; 22.49%), (2) predominantly negative (n = 849; 22.76%), (3) moderately mixed (n = 1,748; 46.85%), and (4) high mixed (n = 295; 7.91%). The predominantly positive profile was associated with lower psychological distress, whereas both the predominantly negative and high mixed profiles were associated with higher psychological distress. Interestingly, specific COVID-19 stressful events were associated with the high mixed profile. The present study challenges the narrative that the impacts of COVID-19 have been unilaterally negative. Future directions for research are proposed.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0269382