ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many aspects of daily life, but relatively little is known about COVID-19-related stress for subgroups in the population. We examined differences in COVID-stress and depression as a function of gender, race, ethnicity, and subjective social status. We tested these factors as moderators of the association between COVID-stress and depression.
Design
We used a cross-sectional design to test associations between sociodemographic factors, COVID-stress, and depression. Analyses were based on confirmatory factor analytic and structural equations models.
Methods
A convenience sample of 1,058 U.S. MTurk workers and college students (54.5% cisgender women; 55.1% racial/ethnic minoritized individuals) was recruited. Participants completed self-report measures of COVID-stress and depression.
Results
COVID-stress was positively associated with depression. Overall, neither gender nor racial minoritized status moderated COVID-stress effects on depression. However, intersectional analyses revealed COVID-stress was a significant risk factor for depression among Black women compared to other participants. COVID-stress was more strongly linked to depression for Hispanic individuals and participants with higher social status.
Conclusions
Future studies may benefit from the COVID-stress scale evaluated in this study and by considering the differential effects of sociodemographic factors on psychological functioning during the pandemic.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Hannah Keenan for her assistance with COVID-related trends and manuscript preparation. There is no funding associated with the present study. Data associated with this research project are available upon request.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 For the remainder of the article, any gender-related text can be understood to refer to cisgender women or men.