. 2020 Jun 23;11:1540. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01540

TABLE 8.

Association between variables related to information about the COVID-19 pandemic and the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as mental health status during the pandemic (N = 3055).

Variables	N (%)	Impact of event				Stress				Anxiety				Depression

		M (SD)	t/F*	p	g/η²*	M (SD)	t/F*	p	g/η²*	M (SD)	t/F*	p	g/η²*	M (SD)	t/F*	p	g/η²*
Main source of information
TV	1244 (40.7)	28.80 (19.55)^a	3.08¹	<0.01	0.01	10.87 (10.08)^a	2.49¹	0.02	0.01	6.27 (8.19)^a	2.53¹	0.01	0.01	9.91 (10.05)^ad	4.81¹	<0.001	0.01
Written press (digital/paper)	614 (20.1)	27.30 (19.68)^ab				11.67 (10.67)^a				6.34 (8.88)^a				9.62 (10.03)^ad
Radio	98 (3.2)	22.70 (17.66)^b				7.90 (7.41)^b				3.41 (6.39)^b				6.67 (7.48)^bc
Social media	751 (24.6)	29.08 (19.02)^a				11.59 (9.78)^a				6.67 (7.99)^a				11.20 (10.37)^a
Messaging apps	165 (5.4)	24.84 (16.37)^ab				9.96 (9.50)^ab				6.12 (8.07)^ab				8.35 (8.97)^cd
Family, friends or coworkers	116 (3.8)	25.98 (18.28)^ab				10.29 (9.80)^ab				4.78 (6.62)^ab				8.62 (9.42)^abc
Official sources	30 (1)	23.00 (16.95)^ab				11.13 (11.43)^ab				6.60 (8.92)^ab				8.20 (8.98)^abc
No specific source or other	37 (1.2)	25.00 (20.32)^ab				10.38 (9.43)^ab				5.95 (7.80)^ab				7.03 (6.66)^cd
Need for more information
No	1706 (55.8)	26.34 (18.44)	−5.18¹	<0.001	0.19	10.49 (9.67)	−3.36¹	<0.01	0.12	5.47 (7.53)	−5.67¹	<0.001	0.21	9.46 (9.65)	−2.60¹	0.01	0.10
Yes	1349 (44.2)	29.99 (19.98)				11.73 (10.44)				7.18 (8.87)				10.41 (10.36)
Satisfaction with information
Very dissatisfied	355 (11.6)	31.82 (20.94)^a	16.59¹	<0.001	0.02	12.74 (11.07)^a	19.10¹	<0.001	0.02	7.95 (9.69)^a	16.25¹	<0.001	0.02	11.33 (11.12)^a	10.74¹	<0.001	0.01
Somewhat dissatisfied	884 (28.9)	30.14 (19.64)^a				12.52 (10.30)^a				6.98 (8.38)^a				10.77 (10.20)^a
Somewhat satisfied	1358 (44.5)	26.81 (18.71)^b				10.35 (9.69)^b				5.90 (8.04)^b				9.55 (9.81)^b
Very satisfied	458 (15)	24.11 (17.39)^c				8.913 (9.03)^c				4.41 (6.44)^c				8.02 (8.70)^c
Hours getting information (last 24 h)
Less than 1h	583 (19.1)	25.54 (18.56)^a	11.80¹	<0.001	0.02	9.97 (9.60)^a	6.23¹	<0.001	0.01	5.46 (7.94)^a	7.72¹	<0.001	0.01	9.17 (9.41)	2.83¹	0.02	0
1–2 h	1163 (38.1)	26.62 (18.51)^a				10.66 (9.72)^ac				5.73 (7.71)^a				9.67 (9.79)
2–3 h	643 (21)	28.26 (18.61)^ab				11.06 (9.69)^abc				6.36 (8.26)^ab				9.80 (9.80)
3–5 h	385 (12.6)	31.52 (19.87)^bc				12.64 (10.88)^bd				7.29 (8.71)^b				10.86 (10.75)
Over 5h	281 (9.2)	32.86 (22.20)^c				12.58 (11.35)^cd				8.09 (9.34)^b				11.08 (11.02)

* Differences in mean level between categories of dichotomous variables were assessed via t-test and Hedges’ g effect size statistic was obtained (interpretation: negligible < 0.20 < small < 0.50 < medium < 0.80 < large). For multiple-category variables, one-way ANOVAs were used, and categories with a different superscript letter show a significant difference between them in the psychological impact variable mean. In these cases, the effect size was assessed via η² (interpretation: negligible < 0.01 < small < 0.06 < medium < 0.14 < large). ¹Homoscedascity could not be assumed for these variables and thus the t-test results adjusted for non-homogeneous variances were used, and in the case of ANOVAS, post hoc Games-Howell tests were used.