Psychological impact differences due to the pandemic and confinement between young and older adults in Argentina

GARCÍA, MATÍAS JONÁS; DEL VALLE, MACARENA VERÓNICA; LÓPEZ-MORALES, HERNÁN; CANET JURIC, LORENA; URQUIJO, SEBASTIÁN

Congreso; 22nd World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics; 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Gerontología y Geriatría (SAGG) y la Asociación Gerontológica Argentina (AGA)

The coronavirus pandemic has had a serious and worldwide impact. The increase in psychopathological symptomatology has affected people regardless of their age but has been observed mainly in the elderly population due to the characteristics of the virus. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the psychological impact, as measured by the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms, in a group of young and older adults at three time points during the pandemic. Participants. 1177 Argentinian adults. Two groups were formed: young adults (YA) and older adults (OA). The age of the YA group ranged from 25 to 44 years (M= 34.41; SD=5.68). Of the 918 participants, 80.4% identified themselves as female (n= 738), and 19.6% identified themselves as male (n= 180).The age of OA ranged from 60 to 84 years (M=65.2; SD=4.38). Of the 259 participants, 74.9% identified themselves as female (n=194), and 25.1% identified themselves as male (n = 65).MeasuresDepressive symptoms: The Argentinean version of Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II).State Anxiety: The Argentinean version of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)Socio-demographic features: Closed-ended questions on age, educational level and gender were included.Procedure and ethical considerations. A longitudinal study was conducted. A non-probabilistic online snowball method was used to recruit participants. Three freely available surveys were launched via Google Forms and disseminated via social media (first survey on March, 2020; second survey on May, 2020; third survey on April, 2021). This study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the National University of Mar del Plata. Depression. ANOVA demonstrated a significant effect of time (F(1.91, 2254) = 96.26, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.08) and time-groups (F(1.92, 2254.06) = 6.64, p = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.006). A significant effect of the group factor (inter-subject) was also demonstrated (F(1, 1175)=87.41 p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.07). Post hoc tests for paired comparisons shows significant differences in depression between YA and OA groups (p