Knowledge, beliefs, mental health, substance use, and behaviors related to the COVID-19 pandemic among US adults: a national online survey.

Given the need for data to inform public health messaging to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, this national survey sought to assess the state of COVID-19-related knowledge, beliefs, mental health, substance use changes, and behaviors among a sample of U.S. adults. In the period March 20-30, 2020, we collected data on COVID-19-related knowledge, awareness and adoption of preventive practices, depression and anxiety (Patient Health Questionnaire-4), stress (Impact of Event Scale-6), pessimism, and tobacco and alcohol use. Differences between age groups (18-39 years, 40-59 years and ≥ 60 years) were tested using Pearson's chi-squared tests or ANOVAs; associations between drinking and smoking and depression, anxiety, and stress were tested using adjusted logistic regression models. Approximately half of the sample ( In spite of high knowledge levels, important gaps were identified. High prevalence of poor mental health outcomes and associated increases in drinking and smoking warrant ongoing risk communications tailoring to effectively disseminate information and expanding psychosocial services, particularly via telehealth, to mitigate the negative mental health impact of COVID-19. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-021-01564-4.

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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests. Funding: no funding was receiving for conducting this study.