Optimism in Dire Times: The Buffering Role of Tragic Optimism in the Relationship between Food Insecurity and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Backgrounds: In light of the need to better understand the underlying psychological mechanism behind coping with food insecurity in general, and specifically in times of severe prolonged stress, the current longitudinal study seeks to examine the role of tragic optimism in the relationship between food insecurity and adverse mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A three-wave longitudinal data from 1,921 Israeli adults was obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed questionnaires assessing food insecurity, anxiety, depression, optimism, and socio-demographic characteristics. To explore the relationship between food insecurity and symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the moderating role of optimism, we employed a set of panel regression models with individual fixed effects.

Results: Our results indicate that the degree and change in food insecurity over time were positively associated, and that the degree and change in optimism were negatively correlated, with both anxiety and depression symptoms. Optimism was found to moderate the association between food insecurity and anxiety symptoms over time, but not the association between food insecurity and depression symptoms. A subgroup analysis revealed that optimism moderated the relationship between food insecurity and anxiety and depression for women, but not for men; for married/coupled individuals but not for singles; and for parents more than non-parents with regard to anxiety, and only for parents with regard to depression.

Implications and Conclusions: Our results highlight the need to practice and enhance tragic optimism in times of great despair, uncertainty, and hardship, especially in life situations of food insecurity when a tangible change might take time.