Factors Influencing Depressive Symptoms in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Period

Background Mental health issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely reported, with various influencing factors identified. However, factors affecting mental health in the post-pandemic period remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the factors influencing depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 post-pandemic period. Methods An online cross-sectional survey using convenience sampling was conducted from December 5, 2023 to December 8, 2023. Basic demographic information and social factors were evaluated using a custom-designed questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Japanese version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, personality traits were measured with the Japanese version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory, and stress coping strategies were measured with the Japanese version of the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the impact of gender, age, occupation, subjective economic status, COVID-19 history, presence of pre-pandemic depressive symptoms, personality traits, and stress coping strategies on post-pandemic depressive symptoms by calculating ORs and CIs. All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 29.0 (Released 2022; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). We set a statistical significance level of 0.05 (two-tailed). Results Among all participants (n = 838), lower subjective economic status (OR: 2.90, 95% CI: 1.99-4.24), frequent substance use (OR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.17-2.46), higher self-blame (OR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.39-2.95), higher levels of active coping (OR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.38-0.88), higher acceptance (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.38-0.98), and pre-pandemic depressive symptoms (OR: 16.84, 95% CI: 11.61-24.44) were significantly associated with post-pandemic depressive symptoms. Conclusions This study identified pre-pandemic depressive symptoms, lower subjective economic status, higher self-blame, and frequent substance use as risk factors for post-pandemic depressive symptoms. These findings suggest the need for social support, economic assistance, and mental health education to promote constructive stress management alternatives to substance use for the prevention of depression in the context of pandemics.