Analysis Of the Psychological State of People During the Covid - 19 Pandemic

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.