Psychological distress across 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic differs by age and by race/ethnicity

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted mental health, with psychological distress varying across age and racial/ethnic groups. This study examined trajectories of five distress measures—symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS), anxiety, depression, anger, and somatization—over the first 2 years of the pandemic, adjusting for prepandemic mental health. Participants in a nationally representative, probability-based U.S. sample (N = 4,298, age range: 18–97 years) completed four online surveys from March 2020 to June 2022. Multilevel models revealed that symptom levels and changes over time varied by age group across outcomes. Across time, PTS and anxiety symptoms declined for most age groups at different rates, F(6, 85,660) = 6.21, p