Are emerging adults more prone to COVID-associated psychological distress than their older adult counterparts? : A cross-sectional comparative study

Abstract

Background: Emerging adulthood is a critical stage of lifewith a feeling of ambiguity through their transition fromadolescence to adulthood. The transition in this life stage posesvarious mental health challenges to the individuals. The mentalhealth of the emerging adults may worsen in times of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to compare the COVID19 and lockdown associated psychological distress amongemerging adults and adults.Material and methods: A cross-sectional, observational studywas performed in India. We used the snowball samplingtechnique and the data was collected using an online selfdesignedsemi-structured questionnaire and the findings from112 emerging adults with 112 adults were compared.Results: The mean score for psychological distress was 14.69among emerging adults, while it was 11.12 for older adults.Emerging adults had a high level of psychological distress andthe association between psychological distress and participantsage group (p-value= 0.015) was statistically significant.Conclusion: The findings suggest that emerging adults aremore likely to experience psychological distress than olderadults.