School of Public Administration, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, China.
School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, China.
Front Public Health. 2022 May 2;10:882177. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.882177. eCollection 2022.
The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused people to worry, which has affected their mental health. This study aimed to access the impact of COVID-19 worry on the mental health of the economically active population (EAP) in a province of China.
An online cross-sectional survey study was conducted during an outbreak of COVID-19 in Guangdong, China. The survey used the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to evaluate participants' mental health status and was completed by 1,584 of the 1,708 participants (a response rate of 92.74%). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were used to identify the correlation between COVID-19 worry and mental health.
Approximately 42.05% of participants reported that they were very worried or extremely worried about the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 worry was negatively correlated with mental health ( < 0.01) and exhibited a stronger influence on the mental health of participants who were male, younger (aged 16-45), or unemployed than on the mental health of participants who were women, older (aged over 45), or employed.
The findings suggest that COVID-19 worry has generated new inequalities in mental health among the EAP of China. The government should provide more public reassurance and psychological support to the EAP to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 worry and prevent mental health disorders.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫情的迅速蔓延使人们感到担忧，这影响了他们的心理健康。本研究旨在评估 COVID-19 担忧对中国某省经济活跃人群（EAP）心理健康的影响。
在中国广东省 COVID-19 爆发期间进行了一项在线横断面调查研究。该调查使用 12 项一般健康问卷（GHQ-12）评估参与者的心理健康状况，共有 1708 名参与者中的 1584 名（应答率为 92.74%）完成了问卷。采用普通最小二乘法（OLS）回归模型来确定 COVID-19 担忧与心理健康之间的相关性。
约 42.05%的参与者表示他们非常担心或极其担心 COVID-19 大流行。COVID-19 担忧与心理健康呈负相关（<0.01），对男性、年轻（16-45 岁）或失业的参与者心理健康的影响大于对女性、年长（45 岁以上）或就业的参与者心理健康的影响。
研究结果表明，COVID-19 担忧在中国 EAP 的心理健康方面造成了新的不平等。政府应向 EAP 提供更多的公众保障和心理支持，以减轻 COVID-19 担忧的影响，预防心理健康障碍。
