Resilience refers to an individual’s healthy coping abilities when encountering adverse life events. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a situation with a high amount of stress exposure, which in turn may be associated with negative emotional outcome like depressive symptoms. The current study investigated if resilience moderated the effect of stress on symptoms of depression and if anxiety symptoms mediated this association. An adult sample of community controls completed the Perceived stress scale 14 (PSS-14), the Resilience scale for adults (RSA), the Patient health questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized anxiety disorder 7 (GAD-7). Independent samples t-test, correlation analyses and moderated mediation analyses were conducted. The results showed that resilience moderated the relations between stress and anxiety symptoms (β = −0.131, p < 0.001) as well as between stress and depressive symptoms (β = −0.068, p < 0.05). In support of a moderated mediation model, resilience moderated the indirect effect of stress on depressive symptom, as confirmed by the index of moderated mediation (IMM = −0.036, p < 0.001; [95% BCa: −0.055, −0.020]). The high resilience subgroup was less affected than the low resilience subgroup by the effect of stress exposure symptoms of depression, mediated by anxiety. The study shows that stress exposure is associated with symptoms of depression, and anxiety mediates this association. Level of resilience differentiates the direct and indirect effect of stress on depression. Knowledge about the effect of stress in response to a pandemic is important for developing treatment and prevention strategies for stress, depression and health-related anxiety.

This cross-sectional study investigated the relation of sociocultural prescriptions of gender role socializations to differences in stress at home and to anxiety and depressive symptoms for adolescent girls and boys, with family cohesion as a mediator. A total of 244 boys and 285 girls aged 13–17 years recruited from Accra, Ghana completed the Short Mood Feeling Questionnaire, Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory, Stress of Home Life and Family Cohesion self-report scales in April 2015. In each sample, two mediation analyses were conducted using Structural Equation Modelling. Exposure to stress at home that was perceived to result from sociocultural prescriptions of gender role norms largely accounted for anxiety and depressive symptoms among girls, whereas this relation was non-significant among boys. Significant indirect relations through low family cohesion to anxiety symptoms were observed for girls and boys but not to depressive symptoms for boys. These findings suggest that differences in gender role socializations at home may account for individual differences in associations between exposure to stress at home and anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as explain the differential indirect relations through low family cohesion. Improving family cohesion while reducing stress at home may contribute to reducing stress and thus anxiety and depressive symptoms.

This paper analyzes the power relation between the interviewer and the interviewee in the qualitative research interview methodology. The paper sets out to grapple with the extent to which the dynamisms in power shifts influence data collection and analysis in the interview methodology. The exploration of power shifts in the qualitative research interview facilitates comprehensive understanding of the nuances of the data by providing more information about the interviewee and the interviewer. This enhances a deeper discerning into the research process, and the topics discussed. This paper also elaborates on how interviewees as well as interviewers display their countermeasures to each other in the course of the interview situation and presents a greater understanding of the power dynamics that exist between the interviewer and interviewee. Power asymmetry seems to be an exasperating circumstance in the interview methodology as pointed out by the discussions in this article. This article also discusses practical recommendations for minimizing the power dynamic s during data analysis in the qualitative research interview.

Imposition of lockdown restrictions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was sudden and unprecedented and dramatically changed the life of many people, as they were confined to their homes with reduced movement and access to fitness training facilities. Studies have reported significant associations between physical inactivity, sedentary behavior, and common mental health problems. This study investigated relations between participants’ reports of change in physical activity (PA; i.e., Reduced PA, Unchanged PA, or Increased PA) and levels of anxiety and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Norway in the time period from March 12, 2020 to June 15, 2020. The relations between age and gender and levels of anxiety and depression symptoms as well as how different levels of resilience influenced the relation between changes in PA and levels of anxiety and depression symptoms were also investigated. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Participants (N= 1,314; females = 31%) were members of an endurance sports organization aged between 18 and 81 years (M= 49 years;SD= 11.50 years). Participants completed the Resilience Scale for Adults and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and reported their changes in PA after lockdown restrictions were implemented on March 12, 2020. Regression analysis, independent samplest-test, and two-way multivariate analysis of variance were conducted. Reduced PA was associated with a higher risk of anxiety and depression symptoms. Younger participants in Reduced PA and Unchanged PA subgroups scored significantly higher on levels of anxiety symptoms and significantly higher on depression symptoms in Unchanged PA subgroup. Females in Unchanged PA and Increased PA subgroups scored significantly higher on levels of anxiety symptoms, whereas no gender differences were found for depression symptoms. The main and interaction effects of change in PA and resilience were significantly associated with depression symptoms. For anxiety symptoms, only the main effect of resilience, but not PA, and the interaction effect were significant. Results further showed that resilience was an important factor that influenced the levels of change in PA. High levels of resilience were associated with lower anxiety and depression symptoms in Reduced, Unchanged, and Increased PA subgroups during the COVID-19 lockdown. Promoting PA while boosting resilience factors such as confidence in own ability and drawing on the social support of even reduced social networks or connections while under lockdown can protect against common mental health problems.

This study investigated resilience patterns and predictors of these patterns (i.e. gender and migration background) among Swiss early adolescents in times of COVID-19. A total of 317 pupils participated at two time points. We conducted two separate latent class analyses and a latent transition analysis using mental health issues and protective factors as indicators. The results revealed three groups: resilient (high mental health issues, high protective factors), nonresilient (high mental health issues, low protective factors), and untroubled (low mental health issues, high protective factors). The resilient group was the most stable (91% stability), whereas the untroubled was the least stable (69% stability). Boys were more likely to be part of the untroubled group than the other groups at the second time point. Gender at the first time point and migration background at both time points were nonsignificant as predictors. Findings highlight the importance of group-specific research, health promotion, and interventions.