Article Type : Research Article
Authors : Chandran KM, Naveena K and Valsan T
Keywords : Psychological conditions; Depression; Sadness
The
COVID-19 pandemic could have affected people not only physically, but also
psychologically. It is in this background that this study was undertaken by
WEDO (NGO), Kozhikode, Kerala, India. Data was collected on-line using a
questionnaire containing 15 psychological traits and their level of experience,
and the characteristics of respondents such as age, sex, education etc. from a
sample of 300 respondents from India using the snow ball sampling technique.
The total score of the traits was worked out as the psychological state score.
The data was analyzed as proportion / score and through statistical tests. The
COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the psychology of the respondents negatively.
The influence of existing tension of people in creating more tension during the
pandemic period is evident from the study. Random Forest technique results show
that Enthusiasm, Satisfaction, Loving nature and Peacefulness are the main
psychological traits, which influence the personality state score. The
characteristics of respondents such as age, education, pre COVID tension and
pre COVID tension affecting the tension during the pandemic period are found to
influence the personality score statistically through Chi-square test. Odds
ratio test shows that respondents with PG qualification have about 4.62 times
more chance of maintaining a better psychological state during the pandemic
period than less educated people. Males
have 1.16 times more chance of maintaining a better psychological state than
females. The study has revealed the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on
the psychological state of people, with majority attributing this to the
pandemic itself.