Introduction: Psychological distress is a nonspecific symptom that directly affects individuals’ mental health and wellbeing. Past literature has indicated that individuals’ psychological distress may be associated with their demographic status such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Besides, addiction is a chronic condition that leads to continuous changes in an individual's behavior, emotions, and thinking. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the relationship between sociodemographic factors and psychological distress. Additionally, we examined the impact of addiction (including drug use, alcohol consumption, smoking, and internet addiction) on distress.
Methods: A total of 1,281 residents of a rural community were recruited and assessed using the 5-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) questionnaire for the level of emotional distress. In addition, substance use status including drug and tobacco use, as well as internet usage was assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. We used binary logistic regression analysis to examine the associations between sociodemographics, addiction and psychological distress. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: Our analyses showed that the omnibus test of model coefficients was significant, and the Nagelkerke R² value was 0.17, indicating that the variables collectively accounted for 17% of the variance in emotional distress. The major contributing factors were age, gender, household income and drug use.
Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of considering demographics and drug usage when designing community mental health intervention programs when addressing individuals’ psychological distress. Other potential factors contributing to community residents’ emotional distress need further investigation.