Mental Health among Young Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Investigation

Abstract

This study aimed to assess changes in COVID-19 related factors (i.e. risk perception, knowledge about the virus, preventive behaviors and perceived efficacy) and mental health (i.e. psychological distress and positive mental health), in a sample of Romanian young adults attending college, assessed immediately after the national COVID-19 lockdown ended (Time 1) and six months after the end of the lockdown (Time 2). We also evaluated the longitudinal relations between COVID-19 related factors and mental health. The sample consisted of 289 undergraduate students (89.3% female, Mage = 20.74, SD = 1.06), who completed questionnaires assessing mental health and COVID-19-related factors via two online surveys, six months apart. The results showed that perceived efficacy and preventive behaviors, as well as positive mental health, but not psychological distress, decreased significantly over the six months period. Risk perception and perceived efficacy of preventive behaviors at Time 1 were positively related with the number of preventive behaviors measured six months later. Risk perception at Time 1 and fear of COVID-19 at Time 2 predicted the mental health indicators at Time 2. Public-health strategies should find the right balance in cultivating proper levels of risk perception that would be most beneficial for prevention of COVID-19 spread and mental health problems due to pandemic.

Keywords:

• Depression
• wellness
• perspective taking
• age-related changes

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Cornelia Măirean

Cornelia Măirean, PhD in Psychology, associate professor at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Department of Psychology, Iași, Romania. Her principal research interests and competencies are in the fields of traumatic stress, risk and safety behaviors, mental health.

Simona Alexandra Zancu

Simona Alexandra Zancu, PhD, is assistant professor in the Department of Psychology of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania, with research interests in the areas of health psychology and clinical psychology, risk and protective factors for mental health and well-being.

Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim

Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim is a Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania. Her research focuses on children’s and adolescents’ well-being and motivational beliefs, and the role of contextual factors on their adjustment.

Laura E. Brumariu

Laura E. Brumariu is an Associate professor at Derner. F. School of Psychology, Adelphi University. Her research reflects a developmental psychopathology perspective. Specifically, her research addresses questions related to how and why children’s relationships with their caregivers influence their social and emotional development, measurement approaches to parent-child attachment in middle childhood, and developmental models of childhood anxiety.