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Updated: Jun 23, 2025

Social Isolation Model: A Noninvasive Rodent Model of Stress and Anxiety
Published on: November 11, 2022
Social distancing stress, anxiety/depression, COVID-19 diagnosis, gender identity, and immigration status
David Adzrago1, Jolyna Chiangong2, Cameron K Ormiston2,3
1Division of Intramural Research, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. David.Adzrago@nih.gov.
Background:
Strict social distancing public health measures to decrease COVID-19 spread increased social distancing stress. However, differences in social distancing stress by anxiety/depression symptoms are understudied, especially based on COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status. We examined whether the association between social distancing stress and anxiety/depression symptoms was moderated by COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status. We further examined the associations of social distancing stress with anxiety/depression symptoms, gender identity, and immigration status among individuals with and without COVID-19.
Methods:
We utilized data from a national cross-sectional survey among adults aged ≥ 18 years in the United States between May 13, 2021, and January 9, 2022 (n = 5,255). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the associations.
Results:
The prevalence of social distancing stress was higher among individuals with COVID-19 (79.23%) than among those without COVID-19 (67.51%). We observed significant associations between social distancing stress and anxiety/depression symptoms, moderated by COVID-19 diagnosis status, immigration status, and gender identity, respectively. Anxiety/depression symptoms were associated with social distancing stress among both individuals with and without COVID-19. Gender identity and immigration status were associated with social distancing stress among only individuals without COVID-19.
Conclusions:
Our findings revealed that the association between social distancing stress and anxiety/depression varied by COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status. The findings underscore the need for more targeted psychological distress strategies to reduce social distancing stress and anxiety/depression among diverse US populations, while considering the impacts of COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status.
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