Mental health of the Mexican population during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected mental health. Objective: To evaluate Mexican population mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic by measuring symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety and insomnia, as well as resilience. Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study. A survey was carried out to collect sociodemographic data, and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS 21), Athens Insomnia Scale and the 14-item Resilience Scale (RS-14) were applied. Central tendency and dispersion measures were obtained for quantitative variables and frequencies for qualitative variables. The chi-square test was used for bivariate analysis; alpha level was 0.05. Results: 1,667 individuals with a mean age of 33.78 +/- 10.79 years were analyzed. On DASS 21, a mean of 9.7 points (normal) was found, as well as 7.10 for anxiety (normal) and 6.73 for depression (normal). In the Athens Insomnia Scale, a mean of 9.33 points (moderate alteration), and in the RS-14 scale, 69.13 points (high resilience) were obtained. Conclusions: Symptoms' intensity was lower than expected in comparison with that recorded in other populations, probably due to the high levels of resilience of the Mexican population.