COVID-19 Pandemic Social Distancing Policies, Social Connection and Mental Health

Multi-level modelling was used to identify mental health trajectories during the initial six months of the pandemic. Mental health symptoms tracked with rising cases of infection and subsequent public health restrictions during the pandemic. Specifically, anxiety and depressive symptoms demonstrated strong longitudinal quadratic trends.

Both anxiety and depressive symptoms were high at study entry (May 2020) and decreased over the summer, followed by an increase in the fall and winter months. Loneliness was stable over the follow-up period. Age, sex, living alone, socioeconomic factors, and pre-existing mental health conditions correlated with mental health symptoms during the pandemic's initial six months.

This study characterizes within-person changes to mental health (anxiety, depressive symptoms, and loneliness) in a Canadian sample from May 2020 to January 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.