Depression, anxiety and worry in young Pacific adults in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic

Siegert, RJ, Narayanan, A, Dipnall, J, Gossage, L, Wrapson, W, Sumich, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4333-8442, Merien, F, Berk, M, Paterson, J and Tautolo, E-S, 2022. Depression, anxiety and worry in young Pacific adults in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. ISSN 0004-8674

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Abstract

Objective: To measure symptoms of anxiety, depression and hopelessness in a sample of young Pacific adults living in Auckland, New Zealand during the 2020/2021 COVID-19 pandemic and identify protective factors.

Methods: Participants were 267 Pacific adults (58% female) who completed a survey online. Analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, linear regression and symptom network analysis.

Results: Around 25% of the sample scored in the range for moderate to severe anxiety and 10% for moderate to severe depression on standard measures. Almost 40% indicated that they found the first lockdown very stressful and 55% noted that some members of their family found it stressful. Only 16% worried about COVID-19 and their future quite a bit or constantly, while another 25% worried sometimes. Self-compassion and Pacific Identity had moderate, negative correlations, and Worry about COVID-19 had weak positive correlations, with anxiety, depression, hopelessness and perceived stress.

Conclusion: These results suggest that, while the prevalence of depression and anxiety are quite high among this population, fostering ethnic identity and self-compassion in Pacific children and adolescents might protect against developing depression and anxiety.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
Creators:	Siegert, R.J., Narayanan, A., Dipnall, J., Gossage, L., Wrapson, W., Sumich, A., Merien, F., Berk, M., Paterson, J. and Tautolo, E.-S.
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Date:	11 August 2022
ISSN:	0004-8674
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1177/00048674221115641 DOI 1610107 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jeremy Silvester
Date Added:	21 Oct 2022 09:41
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 09:41
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47290

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