(PS9-B32) Well-being Indicators, Anxiety, and Depression in the Midst of Societal Crisis: An Application of the Dual Factor Model of Mental Health

Studies have demonstrated a relationship between societal crises and negative mental health outcomes. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression across the world. The exploration of psychological distress that accompanies societal crisis has important treatment and psychosocial implications. Focusing on psychological distress without consideration of co-occurring psychological well-being is consistent with a unipolar model of mental health, which proposes that psychological distress and well-being exist on opposite ends of a single continuum. In comparison, a dual-factor model (DFM) of mental health proposes that psychological distress and well-being are separable but correlated dimensions, which allows for distress and well-being indicators to co-occur. This study applied the DFM within a sample of adults (n = 1,170) in the United States who reported different levels of anxiety, depression, resilience, trait mindfulness, and life satisfaction between June 22 and July 16, 2020. Participants who scored high on anxiety, depression, both anxiety and depression, or low on anxiety and depression were grouped by self-reported life satisfaction (high or low). A Group multivariate analysis of variance used self-reported resilience and trait mindfulness as the dependent variables. An omnibus Group effect, Pillai’s Trace = .21, F (14, 2324) = 19.28, p < .001 partial η2 = 0.10, was followed up with separate univariate ANOVAs for each well-being measure, which tested the a priori hypothesis that higher levels of life satisfaction would be associated with higher self-reported resilience and trait mindfulness irrespective of anxiety and depression levels. Groups who reported high life satisfaction and high comorbid anxiety and depression or low anxiety and depression reported higher levels of both trait mindfulness and resilience than the groups with similar self-reported symptom levels but low life satisfaction. The group that reported high anxiety only (low depression) and high life satisfaction reported higher levels of resilience than the group with similar self-reported symptoms and lower life satisfaction. Though there was a trend, differences in trait mindfulness were not significantly different as a function of life satisfaction among the anxiety only groups. These results may be explained, in part, by the use of a conservative Bonferroni-corrected p-value. The group that reported high depression only (low anxiety) and high life satisfaction reported higher levels of trait mindfulness than the group with similar self-reported symptoms and lower life satisfaction, but differences in trait resilience were not significantly different as a function of life satisfaction. Resilience results among depression only groups are consistent with literature that has suggested that depression may be associated with less variability in general and should only be targeted in treatment after active depression symptoms remit. Implications for assessment and treatment include bringing awareness to the importance of a holistic approach in which well-being indicators in addition to psychopathology during times of societal crisis are measured and addressed.