Locus of control moderates the association of COVID-19 stress and general mental distress: results of a Norwegian and a German-speaking cross-sectional survey

Table 3 Correlations between demographic variables and LoC, COVID-19 stress, and general mental distress

	LoC I ^h)	LoC E ^h)	COVID-19 stress ⁱ⁾	General mental distress ^k)
a. Norwegian sample (n = 1209 -1225)
Age (years)	−.06	−.10^**	−.12^***	−.19^***
Gender ^a)	.03	−.06^*	.03	.05
Relationship status ^b)	−.13^***	−.01	−.11^***	−.12^***
Children ^c)	−.03	−.06	−.15^***	−.19^***
Living together status ^d)	−.05	.04	−.10^***	−.10^***
Education ^e)	−.02	−.07^*	−.08^**	−.11^***
Infected Sars CoV-2 ^f)	−.04	−.02	−.02	−.01
Close person infected with Sars CoV-2 ^g)	−.02	−.002	.02	−.02
b. German-speaking sample (n = 1521-1527)
	LoC I ^h)	LoC E ^h)	COVID-19 stress ⁱ⁾	General mental distress ^k)
Age (years)	−.20^***	.09^**	−.21^***	−.17^***
Gender ^a)	.06^*	.00	.11^***	.06^*
Relationship status ^b)	−.09^**	−.07^**	−.13^***	−.12^***
Children ^c)	−.10^***	.09^***	−.14^***	−.14^***
Living together status ^d)	.15^***	−.01	−.05^*	−.06^*
Education ^e)	−.02	−.11^***	−.08^**	−.10^***
Infected Sars CoV-2 ^f)	.03	−.03	−.01	−.02
Close person infected with Sars CoV-2 ^g)	.04	−.01	−.004	−.03

*p < .05, **p < .01, *** p < .001
^a) 1 = male, 2 = female
^b) 0 = not partnered; 1 = married/partnered
^c) 0 = no children, 1 = children
^d) 0 = living alone, 1 = living with somebody
^e) 0 = secondary/advanced, 1 = university
^f) 0 = not infected with Sars CoV-2/ do not know, 1 = infected with Sars CoV-2
^g) 0 = close person not infected with Sars CoV-2/ do not know, 1 = close person infected with Sars CoV-2
^h) LoC measured by the IE-4 subscales LoC Internal and LoC External (range: 1–5)
ⁱ⁾ Acute psychological stress due to COVID-19 measured by the COVID-19 stress scale (range: 0–5)
^k) General mental distress measured by the PHQ-4 (range 0–12)

ISSN: 1471-244X