Changes in Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Representative Sample of Young Adults from Germany, Israel, Poland, and Slovenia: A Longitudinal Study

Dominika Ochnik; Ana Arzenšek; Aleksandra M Rogowska; Urša Mars Bitenc; Joy Benatov

doi:10.3390/ijerph19105794

Changes in Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Representative Sample of Young Adults from Germany, Israel, Poland, and Slovenia: A Longitudinal Study

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 10;19(10):5794. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19105794.

Authors

Dominika Ochnik¹, Ana Arzenšek², Aleksandra M Rogowska³, Urša Mars Bitenc⁴, Joy Benatov⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Technology, 40-555 Katowice, Poland.
² Faculty of Management, University of Primorska, 6101 Koper, Slovenia.
³ Institute of Psychology, University of Opole, 45-052 Opole, Poland.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, 6101 Koper, Slovenia.
⁵ Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.

Abstract

The aim of this cross-national longitudinal study was to identify a change in mental health indicators: coronavirus-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), perceived stress, and fear of vaccination (FoVac). The first measurement (T1) took place in February 2021, and the second (T2) took place in May-June 2021. The sample consisted of 1723 participants across Germany, Israel, Poland, and Slovenia, between the age of 20 and 40 (M = 30.74, SD = 5.74). A paired-samples Student's t-test was used for testing the differences between T1 and T2. A repeated measures two-way ANOVA was performed to examine changes over time (T) and across the countries (C). A significant although small decrease at T2 was found for coronavirus-related PTSD, perceived stress, and FoVac. A significant main effect was found for T, C, and TxC for all variables, except the interaction effect for coronavirus-related PTSD and perceived stress. A medium effect size was found for coronavirus-related PTSD and FoVac across countries as well as perceived stress over time. A small effect size was revealed for coronavirus-related PTSD and FoVac over time, perceived stress across countries, and interaction for FoVac. A significant improvement in mental health was demonstrated across the four countries (particularly in Israel); however, there were still differences among each of them. Therefore, the cross-national context should be taken into consideration when analyzing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.

Keywords: COVID-19; cross-national; longitudinal; mental health; young adults.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Germany / epidemiology
Humans
Israel / epidemiology
Longitudinal Studies
Mental Health*
Pandemics
Poland / epidemiology
Slovenia / epidemiology
Young Adult

Grants and funding

This study is a part of an international research project “Mental health of young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland, Germany, Slovenia and Israel: a longitudinal study” [34]. The project is co-financed by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange within the Urgency Grants program. The grant has been awarded to the University of Technology in Katowice, Poland; decision number: PPN/GIN/2020/1/00023/DEC/01.