2 much

Literature Review

Darielle Brooks

Department of Social Sciences, Allen University

Social Statistics

March 8,202

Psychological Distress

· Stress

· Anxiety

· Frustration

· Depression

Covid-19 Mandates

(Wearing of face masks, testing, and vaccinations)

Psychological Distress

· Stress

· Anxiety

· Frustration

· Depression

Theory: HBCU students are often mandated to wear face masks, get tested, or be vaccinated for Covid-19 while being on campus, which has resulted in significant adverse psychological responses such as stress, anxiety, frustration, and depression, leading to an increased usage of alcohol and other substances, abuse and addiction.

Question: With HBCU students being mandated or forced to wear face masks, get tested, or be vaccinated for Covid-19, it resulted in significant adverse psychological responses such as stress, anxiety, frustration, and depression leading to an increased usage of alcohol other substances, abuse, and addiction.

Supporting Theory: It is hypothesized that Covid-19 mandates (wearing face masks, testing, and vaccination) increase alcohol and other substance use, abuse, and addiction among HBCU students. It is anticipated that the Covid-19 mandates each respondent encounters will impact psychological distress, leading to an increase in alcohol and other substance use, abuse, and addiction. Specifically, the research will explore if Covid-19 mandates cause psychological distress like stress, anxiety, frustration, and depression that increase alcohol and other substance use, abuse, and addiction. The Self-Medication Theory will be used to support the hypothesis. The theory holds that individuals use alcohol and drugs to change an uncomfortable emotional state (Smith et al., 2017). The use develops as a coping strategy to specific types of emotional pain in the absence of appropriate solutions or meaningful social relationships, especially during a disaster.

Independent Variable: Covid-19 mandates ​

Dependent Variables: Psychological distress (Stress, Anxiety, frustration, depression)  Increased of alcohol and other substance use, abuse and addiction

As the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the world, governments swung into action and implemented several containment measures to prevent the virus from spreading and reduce the infection rate, associated deaths, and other social and economic negative implications. Masking, testing, and vaccinations became the norm as the primary measures to addressing this global health crisis (French et al., 2020). The authorities mandated or forced individuals to wear face masks, test, and vaccinate against the Coronavirus in the United States and other parts of the world. However, these mandates led to a significant increase in alcohol and other substance use, abuse, and addiction among Americans, including HBCU students. This drew much interest from researchers, scholars, and experts to look into this subject. Several studies have been conducted to explain the relationship between Covid-19 mandates and increased alcohol and drug use, abuse, and addiction.

Essentially, previous studies have tried to demonstrate the link between the Covid-19 mandates and increase in alcohol and other substance use, abuse, and addiction using the adverse psychological consequences as the intervening variable and the Self-medication Theory to support their claims. According to research by Smith et al. (2017) that explored the association between substance use and mental health, the results showed a strong relationship between substance use and the psychological status of individuals. Persons suffering from mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression are likely to use substance abuse as a coping strategy against these negative emotions. Smith and his colleagues used the Self-Medication Theory to back up this claim. 

According to Hawn et al. (2020), the Self-medication Theory posits that individuals experiencing adverse psychological distress like stress and anxiety, mainly because of a disaster, are likely to consume alcohol and other drugs to cope with the negative feelings. In other words, they drink or take drugs to satisfy an internal need. Smith and company’s arguments and the self-medication theory can be used to explain better why alcohol and other substance use, abuse, and addiction increased among HBCU students because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Typically, the mandates to wear face masks, test, and vaccinate during the health crisis resulted in adverse psychological effects such as stress, anxiety, depression, and frustration, influencing students to take alcohol and other drugs to cope with the damaging emotions.

A survey by Roberts et al. (2021) also brought out the link between the psychological status of individuals and an increase in alcohol intake and other substances during the Covid-19 pandemic. The researchers noted that alcohol and substance use grew massively during the Covid-19 crisis by 37% and 16%, respectively, because of the changes in the mental health status. As the government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mandated people to wear face masks, stay-at-home, test, and vaccinate against the virus, anxiety, stress, and frustration grew, leading to many considering taking alcohol and other drugs as a coping strategy against these feelings. The authors added that the implications of a pandemic on the rise in alcohol and other drugs use had demonstrated similar trends even in the previous crises (Roberts et al., 2021). For example, alcohol intake and substance use, abuse, and addiction increased during the September 11 bombing attack in the United States in 2021. The mandates such as thorough security checks in airports following the incident frustrated and stressed many Americans who resorted to consuming alcohol and other drugs to wade away their worries and frustrations. 

Deacon et al. (2021) supported the findings of Roberts and colleagues. In their survey to establish the effects of parental homeschooling on parents during the Covid-19 pandemics, the scholars found that mandated homeschooling resulted in negative psychological consequences such as depression and anxiety, which increased alcohol and cannabis use among parents. The parents resorted to alcohol and substance abuse coping with the adverse psychological effects. In this sense, if the findings revealed that mandated homeschooling led to psychological distress on parents, influencing them to consume alcohol and other drugs, it would be fair to say that other Covid-19 mandates like masking, testing, and vaccination yield similar results.

For instance, forcing people to test and vaccinate against the virus made them worried about the test kits and vaccine contents, leading them to alcohol and other substance use, abuse, and addiction to suppress the negative feelings. Deacon and colleagues’ claims and findings also demonstrated the role the self-medication theory plays in explaining the link between mandates and an increase in alcohol and other substance use. Essentially, the parents decided to consume alcohol and other drugs to address their internal need to manage the negative feelings of stress, anxiety, and frustration associated with the homeschooling mandate. 

In another study by Van Hooijdonk et al. (2022) that examined the effects of Covid-19 mandates such as stay-at-home orders on alcohol and substance use among university students in the Netherlands, the results revealed that substances, particularly cannabis, increased by 8.9% during the lockdowns, while binge drinking decreased from 27.8% to 13.9%. They associated the increase in cannabis with mental health problems, including depression and frustration that resulted from the stay-at-home mandate. However, alcohol consumption reduction was influenced by financial constraints and its unavailability. In other words, students lacked the money to purchase alcohol. This finding aligned with the Alpers et al. (2021) survey, which revealed that alcohol intake and substance use reduced among university students during the Covid-19 because of the business closures and disrupted supply systems. Bars and shops students could access alcohol closed down due to the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. Also, the pandemic led to financial challenges, and students lacked adequate money to purchase alcohol or drugs, leading to a massive decrease in usage.

Besides, research by Emery et al. (2021) supported Van Hooijdonk and the company’s findings on the increase in substance use during the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that Covid-19 influenced stress and mood disorders leading to substance abuse among youth and young adults. In a survey involving 670 young adults participants from Minneapolis, Emery and colleagues found that 84% experienced mood and stress changes, and 33% reported changes in their substance use. Typically, the authors established that the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in stress and mood disorders among young adults, which influenced some of them to resort to substance use as a coping strategy. The researchers utilized the Self-medication theory to support these claims (Emery et al., 2021). The youth and young adults in the survey resorted to substance use and abuse to cope with the negative emotions linked with stress and mood disorders. 

Furthermore, Moye et al. (2022) stated that the vaccine mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic affected the mental health status of HBCU students negatively. In an online survey involving HBCU students from the North Carolina campus, Moye and colleagues established that hesitancy level to vaccination was high among HBCU students as many worried about the safety of the vaccines. As a result, some of these students developed mental health problems such as stress and anxiety, leading them to resort to alcohol and substance use,abuse, and addiction. They did this to cope with the negative emotional responses. Previous findings had explained how mental health leads to alcohol and substance initiation, use, abuse, and addiction using the self-medication theory. Dr. Ed Khantzian developed the Self-medication theory in the 1980s (Hawn et al., 2020). As the model's name suggests, individuals with mental concerns tend to “self-medicate” by indulging in alcohol and substance use to deal with the associated negative feelings. In this sense, HBCU students decided to take alcohol and other substances to address their adverse emotions of stress and anxiety.

French et al. (2020) also pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in job losses and business closure, subjecting many Americans to several psychological distresses like anxiety, stress, and depression. Individuals became worried about their health, finance, and future, developing adverse emotional responses. Typically, people became concerned about getting the virus. The initial phases of masking, testing, and physical distancing measures also led to mental health problems among Americans (French et al., 2020). For instance, the mandate to wear face masks caused many individuals to develop psychological distress, leading many to consider taking alcohol and other substances as a coping approach. They wanted to suppress the negative emotions by consuming alcohol and abusing drugs.

References

Alpers, S. E., Skogen, J. C., Mæland, S., Pallesen, S., Rabben, Å. K., Lunde, L. H., & Fadnes, L. T. (2021). Alcohol consumption during a pandemic lockdown period and change in alcohol consumption related to worries and pandemic measures. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(3), 1220.

Deacon, S. H., Rodriguez, L. M., Elgendi, M., King, F. E., Nogueira-Arjona, R., Sherry, S. B., & Stewart, S. H. (2021). Parenting through a pandemic: Mental health and substance use consequences of mandated homeschooling. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice.

Emery, R. L., Johnson, S. T., Simone, M., Loth, K. A., Berge, J. M., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2021). Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress, mood, and substance use among young adults in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area: Findings from project EAT. Social science & medicine, 276, 113826.

French, M. T., Mortensen, K., & Timming, A. R. (2020). Psychological distress and coronavirus fears during the initial phase of the covid-19 pandemic in the united states. The journal of mental health policy and economics, 23(3), 93-100.

Hawn, S. E., Bountress, K. E., Sheerin, C. M., Dick, D. M., & Amstadter, A. B. (2020). Trauma-related drinking to cope: A novel approach to the self-medication model. Psychology of addictive behaviors, 34(3), 465.

Moye, R., Skipper, A., Towns, T., & Rose, D. (2022). Attitudes toward vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from HBCU students. AIMS Public Health, 9(1), 155.

Roberts, A., Rogers, J., Mason, R., Siriwardena, A. N., Hogue, T., Whitley, G. A., &; Law, G. R. (2021). Alcohol and other substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review. Drug and alcohol dependence, 229, 109150.

Smith, L. L., Yan, F., Charles, M., Mohiuddin, K., Tyus, D., Adekeye, O., &; Holden, K. B. (2017). Exploring the link between substance use and mental health status: what can we learn from the self-medication theory?. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 28(2), 113-131.

Van Hooijdonk, K. J., Rubio, M., Simons, S. S., van Noorden, T. H., Luijten, M., Geurts, S. A., & Vink, J. M. (2022). Student-, Study-and COVID-19-Related Predictors of Students’ Smoking, Binge Drinking and Cannabis Use before and during the Initial COVID-19 Lockdown in The Netherlands. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(2), 812.