Date of Award

5-4-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Rodger K. Bufford, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Kathleen Gathercoal, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Mike Vogel, Psy.D.

Abstract

In 2019 a novel virus spread quickly and vastly throughout the world. The coronavirus was transmitted easily, resulting in a sudden increase in infection and death rates and overwhelmed hospitals. This sudden pandemic resulted in government and health officials mandating physical and social quarantines. These mandates were initially implemented to separate the ill from the healthy, and significantly limit physical contact between healthy and ill persons to decrease the spread of Covid-19. All these unexpected factors induced traumatic stress in populations across the world. The impact of this trauma is seen to date, as many studies reported adverse mental health effects in an array of populations and researchers speculate these effects will continue long after Covid-19 (Raker et al., 2020). This study aimed to assess the role of social quarantine as a moderating factor to these adverse mental health symptoms. In a Qualtrics sample of US adults (n = 596) completed a survey with approximately 220 items including a demographic survey, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire, Covid-19 Pandemic Mental Health Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7, International Trauma Questionnaire, Brief Resiliency Scale, and the Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription Medication and Other Substances Tool. Several three-model hierarchical regressions were run to predict social quarantine as a moderating factor for adverse mental health symptoms in United States adults. Demographic and risk factors were used as predictor variables and clusters of mental health symptoms were established as criterion variables. The results showed historical events, such as ACEs or resiliency were stronger predictors of adverse health effects. However, quarantine was a significant moderating variable, and accounted for some variance in each cluster of symptomologies. These results add to the existing literature about the long-term effects of Covid-19, as quarantine has exacerbated many adverse mental health symptoms in the general population.

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