Predictors of anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms from the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented global crisis, with dramatic changes in people’s living conditions and mental health. The aim of this study is to establish predictors of depression, anxiety and stress in people affected by the epidemiological outbreak of COVID-19. Participants comprised 2,376 individuals over 18 years old, 79.6% women, who answered the Scale of Depression, Anxiety and Stress (DASS-21), in addition to scales to assess subjective severity, the search for social support and data related to COVID-19. It was observed that their main predictors were younger age, sleep problems, feeling lonely, not talking about their fears and subjective severity. The conclusion is that there are population groups at risk of experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, which evidences the need to develop prevention and intervention strategies to reduce the psychological impact of the pandemic.