TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - Comparison of dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive vulnerability to depression, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in healthy participants
JO  - BMC psychology
A1  - Muraosa, Haruka
A1  - Shirata, Toshinori
A1  - Saito, Yusuke
A1  - Noto, Keisuke
A1  - Suzuki, Akihito
SP  - e185
EP  - e185
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, depression and suicide rates increased worldwide, and in Japan. Presumably, an increase of neuroticism-related personality traits mediates the relation linking the COVID-19 pandemic with depression and suicide. This study examined COVID-19 pandemic effects on dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive vulnerability to depression, in healthy participants. <br><br>METHODS: The study used Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) -24 data of three subscales (i.e., achievement, dependency, and self-control) obtained from 270 Japanese medical students during October 2017 - June 2022. Participants were divided into two groups: those for whom DAS-24 was assessed before the pandemic (phase 1 group, October 2017 - March 2020, n = 178) and those for whom DAS-24 was assessed during the pandemic (phase 2 group, April 2020 - June 2022, n = 92). <br><br>RESULTS: Total DAS-24 scores of the phase 2 group were significantly (p = 0.047) lower than those of the phase 1 group. Scores of the dependency subscale for the phase 2 group were significantly (p = 0.002) lower than those for the phase 1 group, but no significant difference was found in the scores of the achievement and self-control subscales. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that a decrease in DAS-24 scores, particularly of the dependency subscale, occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Possible mechanisms underlying these results are 1) individuals became less preoccupied with receiving evaluation, 2) individuals realized that self-cognition depending on the approval of others is unimportant, and 3) high levels of dysfunctional attitude were maladaptive for obtaining affective benefits via social interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2050-7283
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01674-0
ID  - ref1
ER  -