(PS1-A9) Eye of the Storm: Did Covid-related Deaths of Loved Ones Lead to Different Grief, PTSD, and Depression Symptoms in Those Affected?

A vast proportion of Americans have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, research has found that the pandemic had an effect on various mental health outcomes. For example, Ettman et al. (2020) found that during the pandemic, the prevalence of depression symptoms in US adults was over three times higher than pre-pandemic. The current study examined the degree that pandemic-related stress affected adjustment to loss of a loved one and the degree that a death attributable to COVID-19 might exacerbate problems adjusting (i.e., grief, trauma, and depressive responses).

In an online survey, participants who had lost a spouse, parent, or child within the past 12 months were asked a battery of questions, including standard self-report measures of grief, PTSD, and depression symptoms, whether the death was COVID related (coded 0 = no, 1 = yes), and five questions rated on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely) about pandemic stress assessing the impact on quality of life, social support, worry about self and family contracting the illness, and an overall rating of how stressful the experience has been.

Participants (N = 272) mainly identified as female (N = 160; 108 male, 4 non-binary) and white (N = 213; 4 Indigenous, 7 Asian, 23 Black, 12 Hispanic, 12 Mixed), and were on average 40.9 years old. 19 had lost a child, 209 a parent, and 44 a partner. 38 deaths were attributed to COVID-19.

The model predicting grief symptoms was significant, R² = .22, F (3, 259) = 24.22, p < .001. Increases in pandemic stress were associated with increases in grief (b = .60, p < .001). There was no main effect of COVID death (b = .12, p > .05), but the interaction with pandemic stress approached significance (b = .53, p = .07). Simple slopes analysis indicated that the slopes of the COVID and non-COVID deaths were positive and significant (p’s < .001), but the slope for COVID death was steeper.

The PTSD model was significant, R² = .11, F (3, 242) = 10.09, p < .001. Only increases in pandemic stress were associated with increases in PTSD (b = 7.42, p < .001).

The model examining depression was significant, R² = .11, F (3, 263) = 10.57, p < .001. Increases in pandemic stress were associated with increases in depression (b = 2.55, p < .001). COVID-related deaths were associated with increased depression (b = 4.33, p < .01). In addition, the interaction of pandemic stress and COVID death was significant (b = -3.85, p < .05). Simple slopes analysis showed that for COVID deaths, depression was high regardless of level of pandemic stress (b = -1.30, p > .05). For non-COVID deaths, there was an increase in depression as pandemic stress increased (b = 2.55, p > .05) going from relatively low levels of depression that were significantly less than the COVID-death group, t = -5.16, p < .001, to high levels of depression that were not different than the COVID-death group, t = -0.97, p > .05.

In sum, increases in pandemic stress were associated with increases in all outcomes. However, losing someone to COVID had differential effects on symptoms of grief, PTSD, and depression symptoms, which is in line with accumulating evidence that grief, PTSD, and depression are separate constructs in the context of loss (Papa, Lancaster, & Kahler, 2014).