Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
Stress. 2022 Jan;25(1):22-29. doi: 10.1080/10253890.2021.2006179. Epub 2021 Nov 23.
Despite the immense impact of COVID-19 on mental health, there is a lack of prospective studies examining physiological predictors of current risk factors. Moreover, although physiological processes evidently interact with socio-demographic factors to modulate individuals' response to a crisis, it remains largely unknown how these complex interactions shape people's mental responses to COVID-19. To fill these gaps of knowledge, we chose a potent physiological marker of distress - heightened baseline electrodermal activity (EDA) measured before the pandemic began - and hypothesized it would be related to greater COVID-related fears and worries as a function of individuals' household size. 185 individuals (71% women), who had participated in our lab studies 2-3 years ago, in which we assessed their baseline EDA, completed several questionnaires online, including assessments of their current fears regarding COVID. Participants also reported the number of people in their household, with whom they had been together during a lockdown which was taking place at the time. We used pre-pandemic EDA measures in combination with their household size to predict participants' current fears. Pre-pandemic EDA measures predicted current COVID-related fears and worries. Specifically for the EDA measure "number of skin conductance responses", we further found that the number of people in the household during the lockdown, moderated the abovementioned relationship, such that it occurred in individuals with average and larger households and not in those with small households. We provide a highly relevant and unique combination of physiological, socio-demographic, and psychological measures, which augments the potential to optimally target populations vulnerable to COVID-related distress, and subsequently offer them early mental health interventions.
尽管 COVID-19 对心理健康造成了巨大影响，但缺乏前瞻性研究来检验当前风险因素的生理预测因子。此外，尽管生理过程显然与社会人口因素相互作用，调节个体对危机的反应，但人们对这些复杂相互作用如何影响个体对 COVID-19 的心理反应仍知之甚少。为了填补这些知识空白，我们选择了一个有力的压力生理标志物——大流行前测量的基线皮肤电活动（EDA）升高，并假设它与更大的 COVID 相关恐惧和担忧有关，这是个体家庭规模的函数。185 名个体（71%为女性），他们在 2-3 年前参加了我们的实验室研究，我们在研究中评估了他们的基线 EDA，并在线完成了几个问卷，包括对他们当前对 COVID 的恐惧的评估。参与者还报告了家庭中的人数，以及他们在当时正在进行封锁期间与谁在一起。我们使用大流行前的 EDA 测量值结合他们的家庭规模来预测参与者当前的恐惧。大流行前的 EDA 测量值预测了当前与 COVID 相关的恐惧和担忧。具体来说，对于 EDA 测量“皮肤传导反应的数量”，我们进一步发现，封锁期间家庭中的人数，调节了上述关系，因此这种关系仅发生在中等和较大家庭的个体中，而不是在小家庭的个体中。我们提供了高度相关和独特的生理、社会人口和心理测量组合，增加了针对易受 COVID 相关压力影响的人群的潜力，并为他们提供早期心理健康干预。
