How COVID-19 affected mental well-being: An 11- week trajectories of daily well-being of Koreans amidst COVID-19 by age, gender and region

PLoS One. 2021 Apr 23;16(4):e0250252. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250252. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The present study examined the daily well-being of Koreans (n = 353,340) for 11 weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic (January 20 -April 7). We analyzed whether and how life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and life meaning changed during the outbreak. First, we found that the well-being of Koreans changed daily in a cubic fashion, such that it declined and recovered during the early phase but declined substantially during the later phase (after COVID- 19 was declared world pandemic by WHO). Second, unlike other emotions, boredom displayed a distinctive pattern of linear increase, especially for younger people, suggesting that boredom might be, in part, responsible for their inability to comply with social distancing recommendations. Third, the well-being of older people and males changed less compared to younger people and females. Finally, daily well-being dropped significantly more in the hard-hit regions than in other regions. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / pathology*
  • COVID-19 / virology
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Emotions
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Health*
  • Middle Aged
  • Republic of Korea / epidemiology
  • SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification
  • Sex Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

The present research was supported by the Center for Happiness Studies at Seoul National University.