A mental health study indicates that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected men more significantly in terms of psychological well-being.
In fact, the past 12 months have been challenging for everyone, regardless of gender. However, a new Danish study found that while women initially showed greater signs of mental health issues during the first wave of lockdowns in the spring of 2020, men are now facing the majority of mental health challenges during the second wave of the virus. The study's lead author, Søren Dinsen Østergaard, a professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, stated, "We see that the psychological well-being of men has now decreased compared to November, and in December it was lower than during the spring lockdown as well, while this trend has reversed for women." Notably, this study is the third of its kind conducted by the research team, which aims to measure how people are mentally coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors conducted their first study in the early days of the pandemic and the first lockdowns, their second study in April after infections began to decline somewhat in Denmark, and their third and final study in November and December 2020.
Deterioration of Mental Health during the Second Wave: The research team used the World Health Organization's well-being index, which consists of five elements. This scale helps doctors determine whether a patient needs treatment for depression during normal times, and it is quite simple: the patient answers five key questions, and the responses are then rated to obtain a score ranging from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the better, while any score below 50 indicates a potential risk of depression, according to the researchers. Comparing the latest results with the findings from the April study, there was a decrease in the average scores in November of about four points for men, while women's mental health scores dropped by two and a half points. However, compared to early surveys, women's scores actually increased by about one and a half points, while men's scores decreased by only one and a half points. Additionally, by the end of 2020, the number of women scoring below 50 was still higher than that of men, with percentages being 27% for females versus 23% for males.
The Role of Winter in Psychological Decline Caused by the Second Wave: Researchers indicate that the number of Danes diagnosed with depression rose significantly during the winter, emphasizing that women tend to experience more seasonal mood changes than men, although the findings suggest that fewer women experienced a decline in psychological well-being later in 2020. Østergaard concluded by stating, "The gender differences in our results are intriguing, but we cannot pinpoint the underlying mechanisms based on the available data. It may relate to uncertainties about employment, as the job market has been negatively impacted by the viral pandemic, particularly in the private sector, which employs more men than women. Therefore, men may be more concerned than women about job opportunities and their family’s economic situation. This is something we will try to address in the next rounds of our studies."
