COVID-19 pandemic: demographic and clinical correlates of passive death wish and thoughts of self-harm among Canadians

Figures & data

Table 1. Age distribution of demographic and clinical characteristics of respondents.

	<25 y	26–40 y	41–60 y	60 y	Overall
Variables	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)
Gender
Male	74 (11.6)	247 (11.4)	308 (12.2)	91 (17.6)	720 (12.3)
Female	550 (86.1)	1905 (87.7)	2213 (87.4)	423 (82.0)	5091 (86.9)
Other	15 (2.3)	21 (1.0)	11 (0.4)	2 (0.4)	49 (0.8)
Ethnicity
Caucasian	464 (72.8)	1745 (80.6)	2152 (85.1)	464 (90.4)	4825 (82.6)
Indigenous	28 (4.4)	90 (4.2)	72 (2.8)	8 (1.6)	198 (3.4)
Asian	58 (9.1)	137 (6.3)	93 (3.7)	5 (1.0)	293 (5.0)
Other	87 (13.7)	194 (9.0)	211 (8.3)	36 (7.0)	528 (9.0)
Education
Less than High School Diploma	123 (19.2)	46 (2.1)	31 (1.2)	12 (2.3)	212 (3.6)
High School Diploma	116 (18.2)	176 (8.1)	213 (8.4)	59 (11.5)	564 (9.6)
Post-Secondary Education	395 (61.8)	1929 (88.9)	2265 (89.3)	439 (85.2)	5028 (85.8)
Other Education	5 (0.8)	18 (0.8)	26 (1.0)	5 (1.0)	54 (0.9)
Employment status
Employed	161 (30.8)	1564 (82.4)	1793 (82.2)	140 (30.4)	3658 (72.3)
Unemployed	130 (24.9)	262 (13.8)	272 (12.5)	32 (7.0)	696 (13.7)
Retired	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	102 (4.7)	288 (62.6)	390 (7.7)
Students	231 (44.3)	72 (3.8)	15 (0.7)	0 (0.0)	318 (6.3)
Relationship status
Married/Cohabiting/Partnered	334 (52.4)	1657 (76.3)	1891 (74.7)	330 (64.0)	4212 (71.9)
Separated/Divorced	6 (0.9)	85 (3.9)	264 (10.4)	75 (14.5)	430 (7.3)
Widowed	0 (0.0)	4 (0.2)	38 (1.5)	47 (9.1)	89 (1.5)
Single	289 (45.4)	408 (18.8)	321 (12.7)	55 (10.7)	1073 (18.3)
Other	8 (1.3)	17 (0.8)	18 (0.7)	9 (1.7)	52 (0.9)
Housing status
Own Home	68 (10.8)	1294 (60.5)	2053 (82.3)	428 (86.1)	3843 (66.7)
Living with Family	349 (55.5)	137 (6.4)	47 (1.9)	9 (1.8)	542 (9.4)
Renting	205 (32.6)	693 (32.4)	366 (14.7)	56 (11.3)	1320 (22.9)
Other	7 (1.1)	16 (0.7)	29 (1.2)	4 (0.8)	56 (1.0)
Respondents reported moderate /high stress	575 (96.2)	1820 (90.2)	1910 (81.2)	321 (67.3)	4626 (84.9)
Respondents reported significant GAD symptoms	362 (66.5)	1079 (58.1)	796 (37.0)	101 (23.1)	2338 (46.9)
Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much in the last two weeks	460 (83.0)	1512 (80.2)	1690 (77.1)	301 (66.4)	3963 (78.0)
Have had passive death wish or thoughts of self-harm in the last two weeks
Not at all	367 (66.4)	1590 (84.4)	1970 (89.9)	422 (93.2)	4349 (85.6)
Several days	103 (18.6)	199 (10.6)	168 (7.7)	18 (4.0)	488 (9.6)
More than half the days	47 (8.5)	60 (3.2)	40 (1.8)	10 (2.2)	157 (3.1)
Nearly everyday	36 (6.5)	36 (1.9)	14 (0.6)	3 (0.7)	89 (1.8)

Table 2. Chi-squared test of association between demographic characteristics and self-isolation or self-quarantine status and likelihood of experiencing passive death wish or thoughts of self-harm in the preceding two weeks.

Variables	Have had passive death wish/thoughts of self-harm in last two weeks N (%)	Have not had passive death wish/thoughts of self-harm in last two weeks N (%)	Chi Square	p-value
Gender
Male	103 (16.9)	508 (83.1)	21.27	<0.001
Female	622 (13.9)	3868 (86.1)
Gender Diverse	17 (35.4)	31 (64.6)
Age (Years)
≤25	186 (33.6)	367 (66.4)	221.29	<0.001
26–40	295 (15.6)	1590 (84.4)
41–60	222 (10.1)	1970 (89.9)
>60	31 (6.8)	422 (93.2)
Ethnicity
Caucasian	569 (13.2)	3726 (84.6)	29.13	<0.001
Indigenous	41 (23.0)	137 (77.0)
Asian	48 (21.3)	177 (78.7)
Other	80 (18.1)	362 (81.9)
Education
Less than High School Diploma	60 (34.1)	116 (65.9)	82.48	<0.001
High School Diploma	100 (20.6)	385 (79.4)
Post-Secondary Education	571 (12.8)	3877 (87.2)
Other Education	10 (23.8)	32 (76.2)
Employment status
Employed	361 (11.3)	2830 (88.7)	208.18	<0.001
Unemployed	183 (30.1)	425 (69.9)
Retired	26 (7.3)	331 (92.7)
Students	84 (29.3)	203 (70.7)
Relationship status
Married/Cohabiting/Partnered	442 (11.9)	3271 (88.1)	90.84	<0.001
Separated/Divorced	69 (17.7)	321 (82.3)
Widowed	8 (9.5)	76 (90.5)
Single	219 (23.7)	704 (76.3)
Other	3 (7.1)	39 (92.9)
Housing status
Own Home	301 (8.9)	3100 (91.1)	287.75	<0.001
Living with Family	160 (33.5)	317 (66.5)
Renting	265 (22.2)	927 (77.8)
Other	9 (20.0)	36 (80.0)
Have had to self-isolate of self-quarantine
No	566 (13.6)	3592 (86.4)	10.64	<0.001
Yes	175 (17.7)	816 (82.3)
Respondents reported moderate/high stress
No	10 (1.3)	770 (98.7)	127.51	<0. 001
Yes	727 (16.7)	3636 (83.3)
Respondents reported significant GAD symptoms
No	153 (5.7)	2547 (94.3)	347.77	<0. 001
Yes	567 (24.0)	1793 (76.0)
Worried about dirt, germs, and viruses
Only since COVID-19 pandemic	411 (13.2)	2697 (86.8)	8.69	<00.01
Before and during COVID-19 pandemic	213 (16.5)	1076 (83.5)
Never	115 (15.3)	638 (84.7)
Wash hands repeatedly or in a special way due to fear of contamination with dirt, germ and viruses
Only since COVID-19 pandemic	366 (13.2)	2404 (86.8)	9.07	<00.01
Before and during COVID-19 pandemic	279 (16.4)	1418 (83.6)
Never	94 (13.9)	584 (86.1)
Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much in last two weeks
No	49 (4.3)	1097 (95.7)	122.27	<0.001
Yes	693 (17.3)	3319 (82.7)

Table 3. Logistic regression predicting likelihood of experiencing passive death wish or thoughts of self-harm.

Variables	B	SE	Wald	df	p-value	Odds Ratio	95% CI for OR
							Lower	Upper
Gender
Male			14.832	2	<0.001
Female	−0.421	0.142	8.795	1	<0.001	0.656	0.497	0.867
Gender Diverse	0.653	0.437	2.230	1	0.14	1.921	0.815	4.526
Age (Years)
≤25			9.952	3	0.02
26–40	−0.385	0.170	5.167	1	0.02	0.680	0.488	0.948
41–60	−0.455	0.189	5.780	1	0.02	0.634	0.438	0.919
>60	–1.008	0.347	8.454	1	<0.001	0.365	0.185	0.720
Ethnicity
Caucasian			14.597	3	<0.001
Indigenous	0.473	0.222	4.554	1	0.03	1.605	1.039	2.479
Asian	0.654	0.214	9.342	1	0.002	1.924	1.265	2.927
Other	0.289	0.168	2.964	1	0.08	1.335	0.961	1.856
Employment status
Employed			29.289	3	<0.001
Unemployed	0.661	0.126	27.464	1	<0.001	1.937	1.512	2.480
Retired	0.522	0.301	3.003	1	0.08	1.685	0.934	3.040
Students	0.188	0.197	0.913	1	0.34	1.207	0.821	1.775
Relationship status
Married/Cohabiting/Partnered			11.170	4	0.03
Separated/Divorced	0.532	0.175	9.202	1	0.002	1.702	1.207	2.400
Widowed	0.091	0.473	0.037	1	0.85	1.096	0.433	2.771
Single	0.159	0.123	1.677	1	0.20	1.173	0.922	1.492
Other	−0.879	0.816	1.160	1	0.28	0.415	0.084	2.055
Housing status
Own Home			25.083	3	<0.001
Living with Family	0.729	0.189	14.904	1	<0.001	2.072	1.431	2.999
Renting	0.545	0.120	20.706	1	<0.001	1.724	1.363	2.180
Other	0.662	0.445	2.208	1	0.14	1.938	0.810	4.640
Education
Less than High School Diploma			3.055	3	0.38
High School Diploma	−0.022	0.254	0.007	1	0.93	0.979	0.595	1.611
Post-Secondary Education	−0.215	0.225	0.912	1	0.34	0.807	0.519	1.254
Other Education	0.291	0.564	0.266	1	0.61	1.338	0.443	4.038
Self-isolation / Quarantine	0.190	0.116	2.655	1	0.10	1.209	0.962	1.519
Repeated hand washing
Only since COVID-19 pandemic			0.721	2	0.70
Before and during COVID-19 pandemic	0.053	0.114	0.213	1	0.64	1.054	0.843	1.317
Never	0.135	0.166	0.655	1	0.42	1.144	0.826	1.585
Worried about dirt and germs
Only since COVID-19 pandemic			5.883	2	0.05
Before and during COVID-19 pandemic	0.079	0.121	0.426	1	0.51	1.082	0.854	1.372
Never	0.370	0.153	5.875	1	0.02	1.447	1.073	1.952
Significant Anxiety Symptoms	1.220	0.116	109.870	1	<0.001	3.388	2.697	4.257
Moderate or high stress	1.467	0.334	19.250	1	<0.001	4.334	2.251	8.345
Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much in the last two weeks	0.853	0.180	22.563	1	<0.001	2.346	1.650	3.336
Constant	–4.451	0.458	94.573	1	<0.001	0.012