The Effects Isolation has on Anxiety and Depression.

B.A. Program in Forensic Psychology

By: Alessandra, Ryan, Josh, Ivy, and Rebeca

Mansfield University

for

PSY 3306, Research Methods II

Karri Verno

April 2, 2021

COVID-19 and the Unknown

COVID-19, or otherwise known as SARS-CoV-2, is a respiratory illness that was coined on

February 11th of 2020. This new illness was the making of a new world-wide pandemic and sent

the world into a frenzy. This frenzy caused jobs, schools, and social lives to shut down

completely and messily. It isolated humans from each other from periods of months to more over

a year now- depending on the persons health, job, and mental state. COVID-19 is still to this day

a problem, but now that there has been a time span of this incident it has become increasingly

clear that various internal problems arose from this pandemic. In this research analysis it will be

covering COVID-19 isolation and its effects on anxiety and depression

Isolation, Anxiety, and Depression

Anxiety and depression are caused by an onslaught of reasons such as a chemical imbalance

within the brain, faulty mood regulation, genetic vulnerability, medical conditions, and stressful

life events. While life was stressful before, it is even more pressing now that there is a pandemic

going on. COVID-19 ties in all of the reasons why anxiety and depression can arise within a

person and can/ makes it worse for those who are already aware of their mental health status.

Some of the people that are heavily affected by COVID-19 and the isolation of the world-wide

lock down are the elderly, those with mental disorders, the immune compromised, workers,

students and plainly just anybody.

Isolation and COVID-19 go hand in hand. When COVID first arrived and locked down the

nation there was a set isolation period for every person. Nobody was supposed to leave their

house, unless they were an essential worker (which was very stressful for those), and nobody

could travel to see family or friends. In layman’s terms, everyone had to stay put where they

were at and could/ should not go anywhere in fear of contracting, spreading, and dying from
COVID. There were food/ supply shortages and there was a cap on those who were allowed to

go into the store, which was an outlet for anyone who could not handle being isolated for too

long within their homes. If one were to come across with any symptoms, and or come in contact

with someone who had covid there was a 2 weeklong isolation period where they could not leave

a confined space within their living situation, which a majority of people do not have that luxury,

and had to be alone until the virus was no longer contagious.

While things now, in 2021, have gotten better, meaning more stores/restaurants/ any place that

gives a social outlet are open with less regulations, the affect on people in still ongoing (ex: not

leaving their homes, hoarding, having long lasting mental health effects from the isolation

period, etc.). Especially within the education system. Online schooling is now president over in

class learning and had stunted many students over the past year- especially those with preexisting

mental health disorders. In a study done by Hamza, Ewing, Heath and Goldstein they found,

“students without preexisting mental health concerns were more likely to show declining mental

health, which coincided with increased social isolation” and that those with preexisting mental

health disorders shared the same state of anxiety that they usually do. This could be due to

always expecting the worst and being always on high alert which shades into anxiety. Similarly,

in another study done by Shamblaw, Rumas, and Best they found that because of the isolation

due to the pandemic there is more students that have developed avoidance coping, “Avoidance

coping was associated with higher depression, higher anxiety, and lower quality of life at

baseline… Further, depression and anxiety significantly mediated the association between

coping and quality of life.” With more isolation and the scariness of the unknown more people

are developing anxiety and depression. Adding already hard academics on top is killing students,

along with the thought of contracting and spreading COVID-19. The mixture of the isolation and
online schooling is making more people develop anxiety and depression due to the lack of

resources on how to help and the overall stress from the pandemic.

Current Study & Hypotheses

The current study that my group and I are focused on is centered around isolation due to

COVID-19 and its effects on people. More specifically, we are looking to see how those who

were isolated, either being in a forced isolation or in a recommended isolation, were affected and

will be looked at through their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety

Inventory, and an isolation inventory of our own. The hypothesis we have concluded without

looking at results are as the following: with increased Isolation time- depression symptoms will

also increase as a result during the isolation, with increased Isolation time- anxiety symptoms

will also increase as a result during the isolation, with less human contact- depression symptoms

will increase as a result during the isolation, and with less human contact- anxiety symptoms will

increase as a result during the isolation.

Method

Participants

Participants in our research study were recruited from the Mansfield University softball

and baseball team who are all student athletes. Their ages ranged from 18 to 78 years old. The

majority of the participants were Caucasian. Due to not wanting any skewed data there were no

restrictions on gender or ethnicity. Participants from different political affiliations, isolation

measures, majors, and sexuality were all assessed. A total number __ people participated in our

study.
Research Design

This study was independent samples t-tests and correlations design. Variables are

isolation, depression, and anxiety. Participants were given the Beck Depression Inventory, the

State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and our own isolation assessment. The participants were not given

the assessments at random.

Materials

`The materials that are needed are the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety

Inventory, our own isolation assessment, and the participants.

Beck Depression Inventory

We used this scale to measure the participants' depression during the time of isolation

during online schooling. The scale ranges from zero to three and measures characteristic attitudes

and symptoms of depression during quarantine.

State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

We used this scale to measure the trait and state of anxiety in the participant during

isolation. This is a scale that ranges from one to four with one not showing anxiety symptoms

and four being very anxious in the certain situation.

Isolation Inventory
 We created this scale to measure how isolated an individual was during their quarantine.

We used a scale that ranges from 0 (not being isolated) and 4 (being very isolated).

Procedure

The research members were assigned to give out surveys during softball and baseball

practice. Each participant was given consent forms. After filling out the consent forms the

participants were instructed to fill out the Beck Depression Inventory, the Stress-Trait Anxiety

Inventory, and an Isolation Inventory. After filling out the inventories the research members

collected the papers. The researchers then told the participants if anyone was disturbed by the

content in the survey, were informed of the location of the counseling center in South Hall.

Results

Within this study there are two concrete hypotheses. The first is with increased Isolation

time- depression symptoms will also increase as a result during the isolation. After using a one-

way variance analysis we concluded that isolation has a great impact on influencing and causing

depression, F(2.75) = 10.67, p<.05, eta^2 = .222. Similarly, our second hypothesis is with less

human contact- anxiety symptoms will increase as a result during the isolation. Using the same

one-way variance analysis we concluded that our hypothesis was right and that isolation, or less-

human contact, significantly impacted and caused anxiety, F(2.75) = 7.80, p<.05, eta^2 = .172.

Discussion
 Summary

Due to the new pandemic that started in 2020 our group noticed the impacts it had on the

world as a whole. We figured out that the leading problem that arose from this pandemic was the

isolation that occurred to try and keep the world healthy. However, for most it made our mental

health deteriorate. Depression and anxiety were the main focus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Therefore, our research is on isolation and its impacts on depression and anxiety. Our hypothesis

was similar on the basis that we know isolation is the leading factor in worsening or arising new

cases of anxiety and depression. And we were right. With our study we found that isolation

significantly worsens anxiety and depression.

Interpretations/ Implications

This short summary is going to be breaking down our two hypotheses. For our first

hypothesis, that with more isolation time one’s depression will also increase, it relates to

the real world in the sense that with depression one of the major signs is that the person

will isolate themselves from others. Due to a forced isolation period those with

depression had it worsen, and those who have a schedule and people they see on a normal

basis will also fall into depression because they were forced out of their routine and

deprived of social interaction- not to mention fear of contracting COVID-19 if they do

not follow those rules of isolation. Similarly, for our second hypothesis, that with more

isolation time one’s anxiety will also increase, it applies to the real world because those

with anxiety are usually in a constant state of worry. With the constant state of isolation,

it can apply in the sense that people are getting worried about going back to work, their

health/ or their love ones health, as well as going back to normal.

 Limitations

There are several threats to internal validity within our study. First off, I do not think it

was fair to only survey to a group within the United States. With this being a global

pandemic, I think it would have been suiting to get information from people in other

countries. However, on a different note, within giving out this survey it should have been

given out to reliable people. There were several people that did not put down their correct

information (ex: saying they were African American/ Hispanic when they were

Caucasian, or saying they were female when they were male). It was also brought up how

people were doing the survey for other people and putting down what they would guess is

correct for how they were feeling. Therefore, there were several threats to internal

validity. There were also some methodological problems. One problem was brought up

how people did not know if they would speak for how, they felt the entire time since

COVID-19 hit or just their isolation period. Similarly, it was brought to our attention that

the one question only had negative answers and a majority of people wanted to put a

positive answer. Lastly, the survey itself did not update properly and some of the surveys

repeated the same question answers therefore not giving them another option.

Future Directions

There is a sum of future directions. One future direction would be broadcasting it out for

people across the globe to take. Another would be to create a solid isolation scale. Overall, I

think if it was broadcasted, tweaked, and had a solid isolation scale that would be the main point

of focus. In the future, it should be directed about how people feel once COVID-19 stops it

limitations and the world returns back to normal as we knew it before COVID-19.
Results Tables:
References
Hamza, C. A., Ewing, L., Heath, N. L., & Goldstein, A. L. (2020). When social isolation is

nothing new: A longitudinal study psychological distress during COVID-19 among

university students with and without preexisting mental health concerns. Canadian

Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne.

https://doi-org.proxy-mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1037/cap0000255.supp (Supplemental)

Shamblaw, A. L., Rumas, R. L., & Best, M. W. (2021). Coping during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Relations with mental health and quality of life. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie

Canadienne. https://doi-org.proxy-mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1037/cap0000263.supp

(Supplemental)

Saltzman, L. Y., Hansel, T. C., & Bordnick, P. S. (2020). Loneliness, isolation, and social

support factors in post-COVID-19 mental health. Psychological Trauma: Theory,

Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S55–S57. https://doi-org.proxy-

mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1037/tra0000703

Lukács, A. (2021). Mental well-being of university students in social isolation. European

Journal of Health Psychology, 28(1), 22–29.

https://doi-org.proxy-mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000065

Robb, C. E., de Jager, C. A., Ahmadi-Abhari, S., Giannakopoulou, P., Udeh-Momoh, C.,

McKeand, J., Price, G., Car, J., Majeed, A., Ward, H., & Middleton, L. (2020).

Associations of Social Isolation with Anxiety and Depression During the Early COVID-

19 Pandemic: A Survey of Older Adults in London, UK. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 0.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.591120
Hamza, C. A., Ewing, L., Heath, N. L., & Goldstein, A. L. (2020). When social isolation is

nothing new: A longitudinal study psychological distress during COVID-19 among

university students with and without preexisting mental health concerns. Canadian

Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne.

https://doi-org.proxy-mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1037/cap0000255.supp (Supplemental)

Shamblaw, A. L., Rumas, R. L., & Best, M. W. (2021). Coping during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Relations with mental health and quality of life. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie

Canadienne. https://doi-org.proxy-mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1037/cap0000263.supp

(Supplemental)

Saltzman, L. Y., Hansel, T. C., & Bordnick, P. S. (2020). Loneliness, isolation, and social

support factors in post-COVID-19 mental health. Psychological Trauma: Theory,

Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S55–S57. https://doi-org.proxy-

mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1037/tra0000703

Lukács, A. (2021). Mental well-being of university students in social isolation. European

Journal of Health Psychology, 28(1), 22–29.

https://doi-org.proxy-mansfield.klnpa.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000065

Han, R. T., Kim, Y. B., Park, E. H., Kim, J. Y., Ryu, C., Kim, H. Y., Lee, J., Pahk, K., Shanyu, C.,

Kim, H., Back, S. K., Kim, H. J., Kim, Y. I., & Na, H. S. (2018). Long-Term isolation

elicits depression and anxiety-related behaviors by reducing oxytocin-Induced

GABAergic transmission in central amygdala. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 11,.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2018.00246
Ieraci, A., Mallei, A., & Popoli, M. (2016). Social isolation stress induces anxious-depressive-

like behavior and alterations of neuroplasticity-related genes in adult male mice. Neural

Plasticity, 2016, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/6212983