Gender differences in mental distress and affect balance during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

M Pilar Matud; Jesús Zueco; Amelia Díaz; Mª José Del Pino; Demelsa Fortes

doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03282-w

Gender differences in mental distress and affect balance during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

Curr Psychol. 2022 Jun 4:1-15. doi: 10.1007/s12144-022-03282-w. Online ahead of print.

Authors

M Pilar Matud¹, Jesús Zueco², Amelia Díaz³, Mª José Del Pino⁴, Demelsa Fortes⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychobiology and Methodology, Facultad de Psicología y Logopedia, Universidad de La Laguna, Apartado 456, 38200 La Laguna, Spain.
² Department of Microbiology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
³ Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatments, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
⁴ Department of Sociology, University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain.
⁵ European University of the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major threat to the health and well-being of people around the world that has impacted freedom of movement, social interaction and the economy. The aim of the present work was twofold: first, to study the presence of mental distress, positive and negative experiences and affect balance in women and men in Spain in two different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, the initial "first state of alarm" phase, characterized by maximum restrictions, and in the "new normal" phase with minimal restrictions, and second, to study the protective role of age, educational level, self-esteem, marital status and social support against mental distress, and as factors that increase the affect balance of women and men in the above mentioned phases of the first wave of the COVID- 19 pandemic in Spain. The study sample consisted of 652 women and 652 men from the general population, aged between 18 and 88 years, who were evaluated through self-reports. Results show greater mental distress in women than men but, strikingly, the magnitude of such differences were greater in the "new normal" phase than in the maximum restriction phase. In addition, in this last phase, women also experienced more negative feelings and less affect balance than men. High self-esteem and social support were also found to be protective factors for mental health, both in women and men, during the two phases of the pandemic studied. In conclusion, our study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has especially impacted the well-being of women.

Keywords: COVID-19; Gender; Mental health; Self-esteem; Social support; Subjective well-being.