Dealing with the challenges of the pandemic – results of a population-based survey during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic contrasting benefits and burden

TL;DR

This study explores how different groups in Germany coped with pandemic stressors, identifying those who adjusted well and the factors that helped them.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach to identifying well-adjusted groups during the pandemic and their associated predictors.

Findings

Well-adjusted individuals showed higher quality of life and better pandemic coping.

Lower mental health symptoms and less pandemic-related career impact predicted being in the well-adjusted cluster.

An interaction between mental health and career impact was found in predicting adjustment.

Abstract

The pandemic and the associated consequences have been ongoing stressors with severe impacts on the population and particularly on families. Research focusing on groups dealing well with the challenges of the pandemic is scarce. Here, we aimed to identify groups being well-adjusted during the pandemic and associated predictors.

A representative sample of the German population (N = 2,515, 51.6% women, 50.09 years), and a subsample of persons with children or adolescents under the age of 18 (N = 453, 60.3% women, 40.08 years) was assessed from July to October 2021. As huge differences in coping with the pandemic are seen, cluster analysis was performed.

Persons in the “well-adjusted cluster” were characterized by higher quality of life, better coping with the pandemic and lower burden of the pandemic. The family subsample well-adjusted cluster was characterized by lower pandemic-associated burden, lower parental stress compared to before the pandemic and a better relationship with the child. Fewer mental health symptoms and less pandemic-associated negative impact on career predicted membership of the well-adjusted cluster in both samples. An interaction between mental health symptoms and the negative impact of COVID-19 on the career was found.

Our results underscore the importance of mental health and work-related factors for coping with the pandemic.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-024-19203-4.

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