Primary Submission Category: Gender
Evolution of depression and anxiety over the COVID-19 pandemic across gender and other demographic groups in a large sample of U.S. adults
Authors: Catherine Ettman Elena Badillo Goicoechea Elizabeth Stuart
Presenting Author: Catherine Ettman*
Poor mental health has been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is little understanding of how mental health evolved over the course of the pandemic and whether trends differed across populations. In particular, there are few studies that have separately documented the evolution of mental health of male, female, and non-binary persons in the U.S. during the pandemic. We aimed to document trends of feelings of depression and anxiety over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic across age, gender, education, and employment groups. Using a large, national, serial cross-sectional sample of adult Facebook users in the U.S. collected through the COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey (CTIS) in partnership with Facebook/Meta, we examined trends in feelings of depression and anxiety from April 2020 through June 2022 (n=21,359,165). We found that non-binary persons reported the highest levels of depression or anxiety at any time during the pandemic relative to all other groups studied. Over time, differences in feelings of anxiety and depression widened for educational attainment, stayed consistent between employment groups, and narrowed for female v. male and age groups. By the end of our study period (April-June 2022), non-binary persons reported 5 times the odds, younger persons reported 6-7 times the odds, persons with a high school degree reported 2 times the odds, and persons who were not employed reported 1.3 – 1.5 times the odds of feelings of depression or anxiety relative to counterparts who were older, male, had graduate degrees, or who were employed, respectively. The risk factors most highly associated with poor mental health two years into the pandemic were non-binary gender, young age, and low educational attainment. Findings suggest that efforts to reduce disparities in mental health and address ongoing population mental health needs beyond the pandemic should focus on persons identifying with a non-binary gender, younger persons, and persons with lower educational attainment.