Corrigendum: Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Czech citizens: how do depression and anxiety symptoms influence cognitive, behavioral, and emotional changes?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1204824.].

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Czech citizens: how do depression and anxiety symptoms influence cognitive, behavioral, and emotional changes?

Background: This study examined the impact of anxiety and depression symptoms during the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic on the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional changes of the Czech population. Methods: The research sample (n = 2363; 48.83 ± 16.53 years; 50.15% men) was obtained using an online survey. Depression and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale (ODSIS) and the Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS) and associations were adjusted for age, gender, and economic status. Results: The results showed that increased symptoms of anxiety and depression were significantly linked to feelings of loneliness, helplessness, reduced quality of relationship with a partner, higher probabilities of alcohol abuse, food consumption, and contemplation of existential questions. Higher symptoms of anxiety were associated with feelings of being threatened. Higher symptoms of depression symptoms increased tobacco abuse. Conclusion: During the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher symptoms of anxiety and depression among Czech citizens were associated with behavioral, cognitive, and emotional changes.

COVID-19 Vaccination Refusal-Which Factors are Related in the Czech Republic, One of the Most Affected Countries in the World?

Objective: This study examined the willingness to get vaccinated and the factors influencing this attitude in extreme settings-in the Czech Republic (at the time of the survey, the third-worst affected country in the world). Methods: We used national data from the general adult Czech population (N = 1,401) and measured attitudes towards vaccination, sociodemographic characteristics, government trust, knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines, personal characteristics, depression and anxiety. Results: Respondents who were more likely to refuse the vaccine were: female, younger, living without a partner, self-employed or unemployed, living in a town, believers outside the church, and did not trust the government, obtained information about the vaccine from social media, were extroverts and depressed. Conversely, respondents who were less likely to refuse the vaccine were: pensioners, people with higher education, respondents with better real knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccines, those who obtained information about the vaccine from an expert and those who had higher scores in neuroticism. Conclusion: This study thus offers a deeper understanding of the factors that might influence vaccine intention and subsequently the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perceived stress of adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown: Bayesian multilevel modeling of the Czech HBSC lockdown survey.

Objective: Long-term isolation, including lockdowns and quarantines, may have a distressing effect on anyone experiencing it. Adolescent brain architecture is very sensitive to environmental adversities, and the mental health development of adolescents may be particularly vulnerable during the pandemic era. In order to better understand the triggers for perceived adolescent stress (PSS) during the COVID-19 lockdown, the present study aimed to assess the effects of social well-being and changes in time use during the lockdown, as well as the family COVID experience of adolescents. Methods: The sample for this study comprised n = 3,440 adolescents (54.2% girls; mean age = 13.5 ± 1.6 years). Bayesian correlations between PSS, health and well-being variables were assessed. PSS was then modeled as an outcome variable in a series of nested Bayesian multilevel regression models. Results: The negative impact of the COVID-19 lockdown was more apparent in girls. PSS was moderately correlated with adolescent health and well-being. The strongest predictor of higher level of PSS was frequent feeling of loneliness. On the contrary, lower level of PSS was most associated with having someone to talk to. Conclusion: Long-term social isolation of adolescents could be harmful to their mental health. Psychological coping strategies to prevent the consequences of social isolation and development of mental health problems should be promoted on the individual, family, and even community level.

Guilt, shame and their associations with chronic diseases in Czech adults.

The interest in the association between feelings of guilt and shame and psychological health is growing. However, less attention so far has been paid to the associations with chronic disease. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore whether feelings of guilt and shame are related to physical health in chronic disease and in selected ones. A nationally representative sample of Czech adults (n = 1000, age = 46.0 ± 17.3 years, 48.6% men) participated in the survey. Feelings of guilt and shame (items from The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) and health problems in selected chronic diseases were measured. Respondents with higher feelings of guilt - but not of shame - were more likely to suffer from a chronic disease; we found this in arthritis, back pain, cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancer and depression or anxiety. The association was strongest in the case of cancer with odds ratios (OR) 5.83 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.27-16.69). There were no significant associations in case of diabetes and stroke. Feelings of shame were not related to chronic diseases. Our findings suggest that feelings of guilt are associated with worse physical health. Further research is needed in this area.

The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Occurrence of Psychosomatic Symptoms: Are They Related?

Most studies on the coronavirus pandemic focus on clinical aspects of the COVID-19 disease. However, less attention is paid to other health aspects of the pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic (risk of infection by virus together with associated measures taken to combat it), and the occurrence of a wide range of psychosomatic symptoms and to explore if there is any factor that plays a role in this association. We collected data from a sample of Czech adults (n = 1431) and measured the occurrence of nine health complaints, respondents' experience during the pandemic and sociodemographic characteristics. The results showed associations between the coronavirus pandemic and increased psychosomatic symptoms and negative emotions. We further found higher risks of increased health complaints in younger people and women. It is also possible that there is higher risk of increased health complaints for respondents with secondary school education, students, and highly spiritual people, but this relationship has to be further investigated. In contrast, respondents with their highest achieved education level being secondary school graduation had a lower risk of increased frequency of stomach-ache. We also found that more negative emotions could increase the frequency of health complaints. Our findings suggest that the coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures could have a significant influence on the prevalence of health complaints and emotional state.

Spirituality, Religious Attendance and Health Complaints in Czech Adolescents.

Research in some religious countries shows that religiosity and spirituality positively affect adolescent health. We studied whether religiosity and spirituality also have positive associations with adolescent health in a secular country. We tested the associations between religious attendance and spirituality and self-reported health and health complaints using a representative sample of Czech adolescents (n = 4182, 14.4 ± 1.1 years, 48.6% boys) from the 2014 health behavior in school-aged children (HBSC) study. We used religious attendance, the adjusted shortened version of the spiritual well-being scale (SWBS), and its two components-religious well-being (RWB) and existential well-being (EWB)-as independent variables and the eight item "HBSC symptom checklist" and self-reported overall health as dependent variables. A higher level of spirituality was associated with lower chances of health complaints and self-reported health, ranging from a 9% to 30% decrease in odd ratios (OR). Religious attendance was not associated with any of the observed variables. The EWB showed a negative association with all of the observed variables, with associations ranging from a 19% to 47% decrease. The RWB was associated with a higher risk of nervousness (OR = 1.12), while other associations were not significant. Non-spiritual but attending respondents were more likely to report a higher occurrence of stomachache (OR = 2.20) and had significantly worse overall health (OR = 2.38). In a largely secular country, we found that spirituality and the EWB (unlike religious attendance and the RWB) could have a significant influence on adolescent health.