Claes Nele, Smeding Annique, Carré Arnaud
Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, Univ Grenoble Alpes, LIP/PC2S, F-73000, Chambéry, France.
Psychol Belg. 2021 Nov 12;61(1):327-340. doi: 10.5334/pb.1064. eCollection 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns negatively impacted the mental health of populations. This impact is not equally distributed and increases existing mental health inequalities. Indeed, government restrictions and the economic consequences of the pandemic affect more the less educated and less wealthy people. However, psychological processes implicated in this increase of mental health inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic remain unexplored. The present study (N=591) tested the role of financial insecurity and attentional control in the relation between socioeconomic status and mental health, along with the influence of trait anxiety. Based on Structural Equation Modelling, findings showed a mediation effect of financial insecurity, but not of attentional control, in the relationship between socioeconomic status and mental health. In addition, exploratory analyses suggested that financial insecurity also mediated the effect of attentional control on mental health. Results of the present research point at the importance of understanding psychological processes implicated in the effect of economic crises on mental health inequalities.
新冠疫情及其后的封锁措施对民众的心理健康产生了负面影响。这种影响并非均匀分布，反而加剧了现有的心理健康不平等现象。事实上，政府的限制措施以及疫情带来的经济后果对受教育程度较低和财富较少的人群影响更大。然而，新冠疫情期间导致心理健康不平等加剧的心理过程仍未得到探究。本研究（N = 591）考察了经济不安全和注意力控制在社会经济地位与心理健康关系中的作用，以及特质焦虑的影响。基于结构方程模型的研究结果表明，经济不安全在社会经济地位与心理健康的关系中起到了中介作用，而注意力控制则没有。此外，探索性分析表明，经济不安全也在注意力控制对心理健康的影响中起到了中介作用。本研究结果表明，理解经济危机对心理健康不平等影响所涉及的心理过程具有重要意义。
