The Impact of COVID-19 on Depressive Symptoms through the Lens of Sexual Orientation

The Impact of COVID-19 on Depressive Symptoms through the Lens of Sexual Orientation

Henrique Pereira, Mariana Duarte

This research seeks to explore the impact of COVID-19 on depressive symptoms, analyzing discrepancies of sexual orientation in a Portuguese-speaking sample. 1590 individuals participated, of which 63% were women, and 88% self-identified as straight. Participants responded to the depression sub-scale of the Beck Symptoms Iventory-18, the fear of COVID-19 scale and the COVID-19 negative impact scale. Depressive symptoms observed were higher than expected, and several significant differences were obtained: women and self-identified bisexual participants had higher levels of depressive symptoms compared to male and straight and gay or lesbian participants. Depressive symptoms negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with COVID-19 aggravated responses, fear of COVID-19, and negative impact of COVID-19. Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that age, gender and sexual orientation explained 6% of the variance of depressive symptoms, and when fear and the negative impact of COVID-19 was added, the model explained 23% of results. This study provides an important contribution to the understanding of factors arising from the pandemic that may have an impact on the mental health of sexual minorities.

2021

depressive symptoms, fear of covid-19, sexual orientation, negative impact of COVID-19, LGB people

10.3390/brainsci11040523

Epidemiology and Health

Korean Society of Epidemiology

Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry