THE CATASTROPHIC TRAP: ASSOCIATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES WITH DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG PAKISTANI SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

Authors

  • Ra’ana Malik Department of Gender Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Shariq Waheed Department of Gender Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Rabia Hameed Department of Gender Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52567/pjsr.v4i2.535

Abstract

Throughout history, pandemic outbreaks have always proven to be inducers of stress, uncertainty, anxiety, and depression. The present study aims to inspect the gender differences in anxiety, depression, and the associated factors during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak among Pakistani social media users. The examination was a cross-sectional study of 577 participants recruited through social media across Pakistan who took a sociodemographic survey along with a COVID-19 pandemic-related questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire index (PHQ-2), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder index (GAD-2), and the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). To Statistically Analyse the data, ANOVA and Chi-square tests were applied for data description and binary logistic regression along with multiple regression analysis for scrutinizing factors associated with anxiety, depression and, resilience. Overall, 24.8% and 23.2% of study members screened positive for depression and anxiety respectively. There were notable gender differences in anxiety and depression as these symptoms were more strongly experienced by females, while no major gender differences were observed for resilience against stress. The findings of the present study could be applied in raising awareness for mainstream society to get authentic information related to the COVID-19 crises from legitimate sources in order to stay away from infodemic and to enhance their psychological wellbeing.

Keywords: COVID-19; gender differences; mental health; social media; depression; anxiety.

Author Biographies

  • Ra’ana Malik, Department of Gender Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Professor and Chairperson 

  • Shariq Waheed, Department of Gender Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Postgraduate Scholar 

  • Rabia Hameed, Department of Gender Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Research Assistant and Visiting Faculty member 

Additional Files

Published

2022-06-30

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2022): Pakistan Journal of Social Research PJSR

Section

Research Article

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Ra’ana Malik, Shariq Waheed, Rabia Hameed

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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How to Cite

[1]
“THE CATASTROPHIC TRAP: ASSOCIATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES WITH DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG PAKISTANI SOCIAL MEDIA USERS”, Pak. J, Soc. Sci., vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 838–848, Jun. 2022, doi: 10.52567/pjsr.v4i2.535.