Intolerance of Uncertainty and Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cheslack-Postava K ; Hoven CW ; Rafieian M ; Skokauskas N
• Description:
  Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has created considerable uncertainty due to its unpredictable outcomes, leading to the development of psychological symptoms and disorders such as depression. Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and depression during COVID-19, including the effects of demographic characteristics as confounders. Methods: The study sample is a combination of participants from 3 ongoing in-person assessed cohort studies. Participants are community members from the metropolitan area of New York City (United States), recruited into 1 of those studies. Originally, these studies focused on children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events either indirectly through involvement of their parents in the criminal justice system or because of direct or indirect exposure to the event of 9/11. Through a telephone interview for this study, participants completed the Personal Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-8), the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS), and the demographic questionnaire in March to August 2020, and the PHQ was collected again in March to August 2021. In the case of missing data on the exposures and outcomes, the participants were excluded. Results: The number of participants at waves 1 and 2 was 1213 and 920, respectively. Participants were considered positive for depression based on scores in the moderate to severe range in each wave (prevalence of 24.3% and 18.1% for waves 1 and 2, respectively, for an IUS score more than the median). The IUS score was normally distributed (mean [SD] = 34.4 [9.9]). There was a positive and strong association between the IUS at wave 1 and depression in both waves. After adjustment for covariates (gender, age, race/ethnicity, religion, marital status, household income, and original cohort), the OR for association of 1 SD increase in IUS score with depression in wave 1 was 1.76 (95% CI, 1.50-2.08; p < .001). For depression in wave 2, the adjusted OR was 1.90 (95% CI, 1.52-2.36; p < .001). A 1 SD increase in IUS score at wave 1 remained associated with depression at wave 2 after adjusting for baseline depression as well as covariates (OR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.24-2.01; p < .001). Conclusions: This study found a high level of intolerance of uncertainty to be positively associated with depression. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cohort Studies Communicable Diseases Demography Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cohort Studies Coronavirus COVID-19 Demographic Characteristics Mental Health Psychological Effects
• ISSN:
  0890-8567
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  61
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067113
• Citation:
  J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2022 Oct; 61(10)(Suppl):S252-S253
• Email:
  mojdehr@stud.ntnu.no
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• End Date:
  20210831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:701523c98baf0fe0aa11bdac8ea86317d889c33142ff17e793939c5cabfd7cb0921f393f9efc5f19bf18a06b2e347d6787bca04e97e12c8c58545a019527da9c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231293/cdc_231293_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 189.82 KB ]