Depression and Its Relationship with Coping Strategies and Illness Perceptions during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Greece: A Cross-Sectional Survey of the Population

Table 3

Association of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ) with coping strategies, illness perceptions, and other variables during the COVID-19 epidemic in Greece ().

Variable	Adjusted OR^1	95% CI^2	value
Gender
Men	1.00	Ref
Women	1.12	0.88–1.41	0.35
Age	0.98	0.96–0.99	<0.001
Married (compared to singles)	0.69	0.52–0.93	0.01
Being a student	1.72	1.16–2.54	0.006
Financial difficulties
No	1.00	Ref
Yes	2.05	1.66–2.53	<0.001
Alcohol consumption
Abstinent/small frequency	1.00	Ref
Moderate frequency	1.02	0.83–1.25	0.846
High frequency	1.79	1.26–2.53	0.001
Coping strategies
Coping: positive/active (scores)	0.88	0.81–0.95	0.001
Coping: supportive/distractive (scores)	1.15	1.05–1.27	0.004
Number of positive coping strategies used	0.80	0.69–0.94	0.005
Illness perceptions
Illness beliefs: high personal control
No	1.00	Ref
Yes	0.79	0.65–0.96	0.02
Illness perceptions: high treatment control
No	1.00	Ref
Yes	0.62	0.49–0.79	<0.001
Illness perceptions: strong emotional representations
No	1.00	Ref
Yes	4.09	3.31–5.04	<0.001
Illness perceptions: high severity of illness
No	1.00	Ref
Yes	2.08	1.66–2.60	<0.001
COVID-19 related
In isolation due to symptoms
No	1.00	Ref
Yes	2.79	1.42–5.49	0.003
Exposure to media for COVID-19-related news
Low–typical	1.00	Ref
High–excessive	1.76	1.38–2.24	<0.001
Time out of home (not work related)
Low–typical	1.00	Ref
High–excessive	2.68	1.18–6.10	0.02

¹OR: odds ratios adjusted for all other variables of the table plus educational status, employment status, locality, number of children, number of persons living at home, number of supportive coping strategies used, being a person with a susceptible illness, being a carer of a susceptible person, having a business that stayed open during the epidemic, and being a health professional. All variables omitted were not statistically significantly associated with depressive symptoms; ²CI: confidence interval.