TY - JOUR
T1 - Elevated serious psychological distress, economic disruption, and the COVID-19 pandemic in the nonmetropolitan American West
AU - Mueller, J. Tom
AU - Merdjanoff, Alexis
AU - McConnell, Kathryn
AU - Burow, Paul
AU - Farrell, Justin
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Under Grant No. 2029990 : RAPID: Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Rural Attitudes about Federal Aid and Recovery. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - In this study we examined the psychological distress, self-rated health, COVID-19 exposure, and economic disruption of a sample of the nonmetropolitan western U.S. population and labor force one year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using novel primary survey data from non-metropolitan counties in the eleven contiguous western United States collected from February 28 until April 3, 2021 (n = 1203), we descriptively analyzed variables and estimated binomial and multinomial logit models of the association between economic disruption, COVID-19 exposure, self-rated health, and psychological distress. Results showed there was widespread presence of psychological distress, COVID-19 exposure, and economic disruption among the overall sample and members of the labor force. There was extremely high incidence of serious psychological distress (14.8% CI [12.1,17.8] of the weighted sample), which was heightened among the labor force (16.6%, CI [13.0,20.9] of those in the labor force). We found economic disruption was associated with severe psychological distress, but exposure to infection was not. Comparatively, overall self-rated health was at similar levels as prior research and was not significantly associated with economic disruption or COVID-19 exposure. COVID-19, particularly its associated economic effects, had a significant relationship with serious psychological distress in this sample of adults in the nonmetropolitan western United States.
AB - In this study we examined the psychological distress, self-rated health, COVID-19 exposure, and economic disruption of a sample of the nonmetropolitan western U.S. population and labor force one year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using novel primary survey data from non-metropolitan counties in the eleven contiguous western United States collected from February 28 until April 3, 2021 (n = 1203), we descriptively analyzed variables and estimated binomial and multinomial logit models of the association between economic disruption, COVID-19 exposure, self-rated health, and psychological distress. Results showed there was widespread presence of psychological distress, COVID-19 exposure, and economic disruption among the overall sample and members of the labor force. There was extremely high incidence of serious psychological distress (14.8% CI [12.1,17.8] of the weighted sample), which was heightened among the labor force (16.6%, CI [13.0,20.9] of those in the labor force). We found economic disruption was associated with severe psychological distress, but exposure to infection was not. Comparatively, overall self-rated health was at similar levels as prior research and was not significantly associated with economic disruption or COVID-19 exposure. COVID-19, particularly its associated economic effects, had a significant relationship with serious psychological distress in this sample of adults in the nonmetropolitan western United States.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Economy
KW - Mental Health
KW - Nonmetropolitan America
KW - Self-rated Health
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106919
DO - 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106919
M3 - Article
C2 - 34929221
AN - SCOPUS:85122081833
SN - 0091-7435
VL - 155
JO - Preventive Medicine
JF - Preventive Medicine
M1 - 106919
ER -