Dissertations and Theses
Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Sasha Rudenstine
Second Advisor
Deidre Anglin
Third Advisor
Megan Finsaas
Keywords
COVID-19, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL SUPPORT
Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated preexisting inequities in depression and anxiety symptoms, particularly for marginalized populations. Post-disaster mental health has often been investigated in both public health and clinical psychological literature, and the present dissertation integrates both disciplinary frameworks to understand the reverberating psychological consequences of the pandemic. Methods: Data were collected Winter 2022-2023, and the present analyses used descriptive statistics, correlations, and structural equation models to measure associations between variables of interest. Two separate SEMs were conducted with variables often used in public health literature. Specifically, these models assessed the indirect relationship between COVID-19-related financial and social stress as well as discriminatory stress on depression and anxiety distress outcomes through separate subprocesses of critical consciousness, critical reflection and critical action. Subsequently, two separate SEMs were conducted using variables often investigated within clinical psychological research, the first of which explored the indirect relationship between trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) and distress symptom outcomes through social support. The second of which, conversely, used a developmental framing of trait EI as formed in the context of social support, to explore the indirect relationship between social support on symptoms through trait EI. Lastly, two final comprehensive SEMs combined the above separate mediations to integrate these public health and clinical psychological perspectives, as well as to assess the accuracy of using a developmental approach to measuring trait EI within a broader full model. Results: Across SEM analyses, critical reflection and action were non-significantly associated with psychological distress symptom outcomes, and stress indicators were positively associated with these outcomes. In the final comprehensive models, Model 1 demonstrated suboptimal fit indices, CFI=0.89, TLI=0.86, and RMSEA=0.61, and Model 2 yielded stronger fit, CFI=0.93, TLI=0.91, and RMSEA=0.05, when social support preceded trait EI. Indirect pathways from social support to symptom outcomes through trait EI, in both smaller and integrated models, demonstrated full mediations with social support losing its direct association with these outcomes. Findings: Results indicate the need for further explorations into the relationships between political consciousness and psychological distress, and the continued impact of stress on these depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results highlight the importance of mitigating preexisting stressors, conceptualizing a developmental approach to trait EI as malleable, and utilizing integrative models within psychological research. Future studies should continue to track post-pandemic psychological consequences with a multidimensional approach to inform thorough recovery efforts.
Recommended Citation
Schulder, Talia, "A Multidimensional Look into COVID-19’s Reverberating Psychological Consequences" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1328
