Mental health during the covid19 pandemic in Sweden, as an interaction between personality and contextual factors

Abstract: The covid19 pandemic has presented great challenges to mental health globally, in part due to restrictions implemented in the wake of the pandemic; such as social distancing, but also due to the fear and psychological distress associated with living during times of crisis. Prior studies have contributed to explaining covid19’s effects on mental health by addressing either personality-based or contextual factors. The present study conceptualized and assessed an interaction of both dimensions. The sample consisted of 220 participants, all of whom had been living in Sweden during the pandemic. Our results confirm previous findings, and provide further evidence of psychological flexibility as a protective factor against bad mental health. We also found that certain demographic groupings experienced worse mental health than the rest of the population. These vulnerable groups were women and young people, and it may be interesting to consider this in future research. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the interactions between different contextual and personality-based factors to covid19 in a Swedish context. For future research, it would be useful to investigate these interactions and correlations in other countries to see if such studies yield different results. It may also be interesting to consider employment status and sector; as that may explain part of the vulnerability to mental health during covid19.