Ausín, B., González-Sanguino, C., Ángel Castellanos, M., Sáiz, J., Zamorano, S., Vaquero, C. & Muñoz, M.
The Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain: A Longitudinal Study
Background: This study aims to longitudinally assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the general Spanish population. It uses four assessment points: two weeks after the start of confinement, one month after, two months after, and one year after the first evaluation. Methods: Evaluations were conducted through an online survey, with a sample of 3,480 people at the first data collection and 1,041, 569, and 550 people at successive evaluation points. Depressive symptoms (PHQ-2), anxiety (GAD-2), post-traumatic stress (PCL-C-2), social support (EMAS), loneliness (UCLA-3), and discrimination (InDI-d) were evaluated. Results: Significant changes were found in the variables depression and anxiety with a greater presence of this kind of symptomatology after one year (p < .01). There were also significant changes in the variable social support, which showed a substantial reduction after one year (p < .001). Similarly, there were significant variations in the variable intersectional discrimination (p < .001), with greater levels of discrimination. The temporal models show no significant differences in terms of post-traumatic symptomatology (p = .12) or loneliness (p = .19). Conclusions: The pandemic had a negative impact on mental health and these effects were further exacerbated one year later.
Keywords: Coronavirus, COVID-19, quarantine, longitudinal, mental health.
Ausín, B., González-Sanguino, C., Castellanos, M. A., Sáiz, J., Zamorano, S., Vaquero, C., & Muñoz, M. (2022). The Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain: A Longitudinal Study. Psicothema, 34(1), 66–73. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2021.290
