. 2020 Nov 18;16:111. doi: 10.1186/s12992-020-00641-9

Table 4.

Frequencies of response strategies used to address concern about COVID-19 (by gender), and their association with mental health disorder symptoms

Response strategy	Frequencies (N = 2088)				Association with mental health disorder symptoms (N = 2011) ^b
	Women		Men		Anxiety ^c		Depression^c		PTSD^c		Adjustment disorder^c
	N	%	N	%	OR	P	OR	P	OR	P	OR	P
Emotional support and expression:
Emotional support by speaking with family/friends	1005	55.62	122	43.42^a	0.71	*< 0.01*	0.88	0.25	0.80	0.13	1.06	0.55
Going to church/praying	244	13.50	26	9.25^a	0.77	0.16	0.77	0.12	0.99	0.96	0.73	*0.04*
Expressing my negative feelings /crying/arguing/being aggressive	236	13.06	20	7.12^a	4.42	*< 0.01*	4.45	*< 0.01*	4.42	*< 0.01*	4.14	*< 0.01*
Positive thinking and helping others:
Looking for something good in what is happening	591	32.71	85	30.25	0.41	*< 0.01*	0.60	*< 0.01*	0.63	*0.01*	0.63	*< 0.01*
Planning for the future, considering facts of changed reality	576	31.88	109	38.79^a	0.63	*< 0.01*	0.73	*0.01*	0.59	*0.00*	0.84	0.08
Helping others	530	29.33	81	28.83	0.79	0.07	0.81	0.07	0.96	0.79	0.79	*0.03*
Exercise and relaxation techniques:
Taking exercise	640	35.42	110	39.15	0.53	*< 0.01*	0.55	*< 0.01*	0.66	*0.01*	0.66	*< 0.01*
Meditation/relaxation exercises	200	11.07	26	9.25	0.39	*< 0.01*	0.47	*< 0.01*	0.39	*< 0.01*	0.46	*< 0.01*
Professional help & medications:
Self-medication on prescribed drugs	94	5.20	10	3.56	2.71	*< 0.01*	3.35	*< 0.01*	3.60	*< 0.01*	3.21	*< 0.01*
Getting psychological support (e.g. online counselling/therapy)	90	4.98	12	4.27	1.92	*0.01*	2.33	*< 0.01*	3.29	*< 0.01*	1.84	*0.01*
Calling NCDC hotline or family doctor	19	1.05	5	1.78	2.60	*0.04*	1.48	0.41	1.35	0.64	1.25	0.62
Distraction:
Reading, TV, radio	983	54.40	169	60.14	0.52	*< 0.01*	0.67	*< 0.01*	0.55	*0.00*	0.85	0.10
Doing housework or DIY	835	46.21	103	36.65^a	0.63	*< 0.01*	0.73	*< 0.01*	0.68	*0.01*	0.73	*< 0.01*
Working	666	36.86	122	43.42	0.74	*0.02*	0.62	*< 0.01*	0.80	0.20	0.87	0.18
Using social media	661	36.58	129	45.91^a	0.91	0.42	1.21	0.08	1.01	0.93	1.14	0.20
Daydreaming/sleeping	542	29.99	86	30.60	1.62	*< 0.01*	2.33	*< 0.01*	1.68	*< 0.01*	2.14	*< 0.01*
Playing a lot of video games	49	2.71	48	17.08^a	1.28	0.34	1.41	1.97	1.31	0.38	1.25	0.35
Substance use or gambling:
Drinking alcohol	149	8.25	55	19.57^a	1.50	*0.03*	1.97	*< 0.01*	1.81	*0.01*	1.72	*< 0.01*
Gambling	13	0.72	11	3.91^a	1.84	0.22	1.55	0.37	2.07	0.19	1.45	0.42
Taking illegal drugs	12	0.66	14	4.98^a	1.15	0.78	0.94	0.91	–	–	0.81	0.63

^aFrequencies: statistically significant difference between women and men at P < 0.05 (Chi2 test)

^bSeparate multivariate regression models run for association between individual mental disorder and individual response strategy, adjusting for gender, age, education, household economic status, household size, and existing mental health disorder (for brevity, only data for response strategy are shown). Statistically significant (P < 0.05) results shown in bold

^cGAD-7 anxiety score > 9; PHQ-9 depression score > 9; ADNM 8 adjustment disorder score > 18.4; see methods section for PTSD (ITQ) scoring