Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, CA, USA.
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
Arch Womens Ment Health. 2023 Oct;26(5):625-637. doi: 10.1007/s00737-023-01345-w. Epub 2023 Aug 3.
Latinos have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Little is known about the lasting effects on mental health, particularly among mothers of young children, who historically report high levels of depression and anxiety. We examined if anxiety and depression symptoms worsened for mothers of Mexican descent across the pandemic and identified the role of sociocultural risk and protective factors on these changes. Mothers of Mexican descent (n = 141) with young children (ages 0-7) were administered surveys on mental health symptoms (anxiety and depression), stress-related sociocultural factors (perceived discrimination) before (pre-pandemic), within 3 months (early pandemic), and 18 months after the COVID-19 stay-at-home order (late pandemic). Another sociocultural factor, acculturative stress, was only measured pre-pandemic while during the later phase of the pandemic mothers reported their levels of loneliness, optimism, and coping styles. Repeated measures (RM) ANOVA demonstrated that depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as perceived discrimination increased from pre to early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and slightly lowered in late-COVID but did not return to pre-COVID levels. Two-way RM ANOVA showed that acculturative stress and perceived discrimination predicted worse mental health trajectories across the pandemic while moderations revealed that optimism buffered against, and avoidant coping increased the adverse effects of sociocultural factors on mental health. The effects of the COVID pandemic on mental health are lingering in mothers of young children; however, optimism may be a protective factor. The results also highlight the damaging effects of external factors, such as discrimination, on maternal mental health during times of crisis.
拉丁裔在美国的 COVID-19 大流行中受到了不成比例的影响。对于大流行对心理健康的持久影响，尤其是对历史上报告抑郁和焦虑水平较高的幼儿母亲的影响，人们知之甚少。我们研究了在大流行期间，墨西哥裔母亲的焦虑和抑郁症状是否恶化，并确定了社会文化风险和保护因素对这些变化的作用。有年幼子女（0-7 岁）的墨西哥裔母亲（n=141）接受了心理健康症状（焦虑和抑郁）、与压力相关的社会文化因素（感知歧视）的调查，调查在大流行前（大流行前）、大流行后 3 个月（大流行早期）和 COVID-19 居家令后 18 个月（大流行后期）进行。另一个社会文化因素，文化适应压力，仅在大流行前测量，而在大流行后期，母亲报告了孤独感、乐观程度和应对方式的水平。重复测量（RM）方差分析表明，抑郁和焦虑症状以及感知歧视从大流行前到 COVID-19 大流行早期增加，在大流行后期略有下降，但并未恢复到大流行前的水平。双向 RM 方差分析显示，文化适应压力和感知歧视预测了整个大流行期间心理健康状况的恶化轨迹，而调节作用表明，乐观情绪缓冲了社会文化因素对心理健康的不利影响，而回避应对则增加了这种不利影响。COVID 大流行对幼儿母亲心理健康的影响仍在持续；然而，乐观可能是一个保护因素。研究结果还强调了在危机时期，歧视等外部因素对产妇心理健康的破坏性影响。
