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Project Overview

The Project

The COVID-19 Pandemic and lockdowns have had profound effects the world over. Roughly 25 million jobs were lost in the United States, and although a broad recovery followed, the economic and social consequences of the pandemic continue to reverberate. 
 
Our Project, Understanding the Psychological Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic examines the long-term social, economic, and psychological costs of the pandemic and its lockdowns.

Our Guiding Aims

Assess the longitudinal consequences of COVID-19 economic impact on adaptation, in the context of social capital.

Hypothesizing that high COVID-19 economic impact regions, will experience increased general distress, loneliness, and suicidal ideation, and reduced well-being over time. However, the negative mental health consequences of COVID-19 economic impact will be diminished in high social capitol regions. 

To assess individual social-affiliative behavior in response to self-reported economic stress.

It is our hypothesis that self-reported economic stress will enhance social-affiliative behavior, and through an indirect
longitudinal mediational path, improve subsequent general distress, loneliness, suicidal ideation, and well-being. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the strength of this indirect effect will be moderated by social capital, so that these beneficial effects will largely be observed in high but not low social capital regions.

To map distinct longitudinal patterns of general distress in populations with differing levels of COVID-19 economic impact stress and social capital.

Typically, at least three distinct patterns of individual adaptation are observed (resilience, recovery, and chronic distress). It is our expectation that these distinct will emerge across each of the four grouping variables. However, we hypothesize that these patterns will showed marked differences depending on COVID-19 economic impact and social capital. Specifically, when regions are matched on COVID-19 economic impact but differ on social capital, a smaller proportion of people will show a resilient and a recovery pattern in low social capital regions. In addition, we expect social-affiliative behavior to be associated with resilient responses across groups, and comparative analyses will reveal that social affiliative behavior has stronger effects in high social capital regions.

The Purpose

This project is the biggest the Trauma, Social Processes and Resilience Lab of Pace University, led by Dr. Anthony Mancini, has taken on. 

At the TSPR lab, we are guided by a desire to better understand mental health and well-being in the aftermath of the pandemic; and  to evaluate the role of the social environment in facilitating adaptation in the face of economic stress and hardship, focusing on individual social behavior, social cohesion, neighborhood relations, and community orientation.

Achieving our specific aims will contribute to a sound empirical basis for ameliorating the consequences of COVID-19
economic stress through policy intervention and clinical resources. Support for the role of social capital in longitudinal
adaptation (Specific Aim 1) would suggest a greater policy focus on regions low in social capital and would further
suggest community-level interventions that might improve it, while support for the key role of affiliative behavior
(Specific Aim 2) would illuminate individual-level processes that underlie stress adaptation. A better understanding of the
inter-individual variation in the adaptive consequences of COVID-19 (Specific Aim 3) would help to diagnose the broader
consequences of COVID-19 and the degree to which individual variation is linked to economic and social environmental
forces.   

Learn more about the specifics of the project below!

About The Project

The project will survey 1,600 participants five times over the course of 12 months. Eligible participants will be selected from counties that vary in terms of two factors: 1) the degree of COVID-19 related economic impact and 2) the degree of social capital (defined at a county level as shown here). These counties comprise rural, suburban, and urban areas, as well as diverse socioeconomic levels, races and ethnicities, and political beliefs. We will assess various aspects of functioning, including financial strain, employment status, general distress, well-being, loneliness, social behavior, social support, and the perception of close others.  

This project is led by Anthony Mancini, PhD, a Professor of Psychology at Pace University. The aims of the project are to: 1) better understand mental health and well-being in the aftermath of the pandemic; 2) evaluate the role of the social environment in facilitating adaptation in the face of economic stress and hardship, with a focus on individual social behavior, social cohesion, neighborhood relations, and community orientation.   

Achieving these aims will help diagnose the impact of economic stress more broadly on key psychological functioning outcomes. We hope that our findings can inform policy, clinical intervention, and future research on collective acute stressors. As our findings emerge, publications, news stories, blog posts, and others material will be listed on this website.