What factors could enhance post-crash anxiety and depression outcomes? A SEM-based retrospective study

Traffic crashes are a leading cause of non-natural deaths and significant economic and healthcare burdens. Mental health issues and decreased life quality have been consistently linked to traffic crashes among surviving. Several studies reveal that anxiety and depression symptoms are common among these individuals. However, the specific individual factors modulating the development of these post-crash psychosocial outcomes, as well as their relative contributions, have been scarcely addressed in the literature. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to examine different factors’ effects on two key negative self-reported psychological outcomes (namely, anxiety and depression) following road crashes. The survey was conducted on 239 individuals who experienced substantial financial loss or non-fatal physical injuries after a crash. Among the full set of study variables comprised in the path model, crash severity has a positive and significant effect on post-crash anxiety severity scores. As for antecedent anxiety and depression values, these were significantly influenced by retrospectively-reported physical conditions and both pre-crash anxiety and depression scores. Moreover, both pre-crash depression scores and post-crash anxiety indexes stand out as significant predictors of post-crash depression indexes. This study suggests that traffic crashes have a significant effect on self-reported anxiety and depression-related outcomes. At a practical level, these outcomes underscore the need for increasing attention paid to post-crash mental health outcomes, given their considerably greater prevalence among crash survivors, as well as their possible comorbidity with further impairing behaviors or life quality impairments.