Psychological Status and Associated Factors During the Lockdown Period of the COVID 19 Epidemic in China: A Web Based Survey

Background: The aim of this study was to survey the general public in China to better understand their levels of psychological state and its influencing factors after the Wuhan shutdown on 23 Jan.Methods: A survey was conducted on Feb 20-24, using an online self-administrated questionnaire among 4071 participants. Data on subjective indicators of daily-life change was collected, and individual scores on changes in anxiety, depression, and stress were generated by 8-item, 11-item, and 6-item questions. After bivariate analyses, multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate independent associations between socio-demographic variables, subjective indicators of changes in daily life， and summary scores including anxiety, depression, and stress scores.Results: Information from 3803 participants was available for analysis. Multivariable regression analyses showed that the anxiety (B=-1.27, 95%CI=-1.71 to -0.82), depression (B=-1.47, 95%CI=-2.06 to -0.88), and stress (B=-0.79, 95%CI=-1.13 to -0.46) scores of people in rural areas are lower than those in urban areas. People living in the other regions except Hubei, higher education were independent correlates of less negative emotions, while people with relatively high incomes had poor psychological status in anxiety (B=0.73, 95%CI=0.08 to 1.38),depression (B=1.45, 95%CI=0.60 to 2.30) and stress (B=0.65, 95%CI=0.17 to 1.13). Married people were less anxious (B=-0.67, 95%CI=-1.30 to -0.05), depressed (B=-1.14, 95%CI=-1.96 to -0.33), and stressed (B=-0.47, 95%CI=-0.93 to 0.00) than single people. The level of attention, self-assessed infection risk, impact of the daily life and mental-health help-seeking tended to be positively associated with the scores of anxiety, depression, and stress (p<0.001).Conclusions: Usual residence, education, marital status, monthly income, the level of attention, self-assessed infection risk, impact of the daily life and mental-health help-seeking are important correlates of the scores of anxiety, depression, and stress. Awareness of these relevant factors could help the government and related personnel to prevent more severe psychological trauma in the later period.