Depression and Anxiety Changes Among Sexual and Gender Minority People Coinciding with Onset of COVID-19 Pandemic

Participants in The PRIDE Study, a longitudinal cohort study of sexual and gender minority people, were included if they completed mental health measures in the 2019 Annual Questionnaire (timepoint 1, June 2019—ongoing at time of data extraction) and in a COVID-19 impact ancillary study (timepoint 2, March 23, 2020, through April 19, 2020). Paired sample t tests examined changes in depression (9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9 ) and anxiety (7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, GAD-7 ) symptoms overall and separately among those who screened positive (PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores ≥ 10 ) and negative (scores < 10) for depression and generalized anxiety disorder at timepoint 1. In total, 2288 participants were included in this study (see Table 1 for participant characteristics). Depression symptoms increased by a mean PHQ-9 score of 1.21 ( t [2280] = 11.35, p < .001, d = .20) from timepoint 1 to 2. Anxiety symptoms increased by a mean GAD-7 score of 3.11 ( t [2282] = 27.95, p < .001, d = .54). Among individuals who screened positive for depression at timepoint 1, PHQ-9 scores decreased by a mean of 1.08 ( t [670] = − 4.80, p < .001, d = .21) at timepoint 2. Among individuals who screened negative for depression at time 1, PHQ-9 scores increased by a mean of 2.17 ( t [1609] = 19.58, p < .001, d = 0.53) at timepoint 2. Among individuals who screened positive for generalized anxiety at timepoint 1, there was no change in GAD-7 scores ( t [508] = 1.01, p = .32, d = .06). Among individuals who screened negative for generalized anxiety at timepoint 1, GAD-7 scores increased by a mean of 3.93 ( t [1773] = 32.93, p < .001, d = .88) at timepoint 2.