A country-level k-Means Clustering of stress and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially increased psychological stress worldwide, making it important to understand how countries differ in their coping strategies. Previous cross-national studies have primarily relied on descriptive or regression-based analyses, which are limited in identifying latent national coping-stress profiles based on multiple coping behaviours. To address this limitation, this study applies K-Means clustering to identify groups of countries with similar stress and coping characteristics. The analysis was conducted using aggregated country-level data from the COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey. The final dataset consisted of 25 countries. For the clustering analysis, each country was represented using 19 features, consisting of the mean values of 16 coping 16 coping strategies and the proportions of respondents in the low, moderate, and high stress categories. The optimal number of clusters was determined using the elbow method dan supported by the silhouette coefficient, resulting in a four-cluster solution. Four distinct national coping-stress profiles were identified. Cluster 1 (Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Japan) exhibited balanced stress levels with moderate engagement in social dan recreational coping activities. Cluster 2 (Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Mexico, Poland, Turkey, United States) recorded the highest stress levels and was characterised by intensive social interaction and entertainment-based coping. Cluster 3 (nine European countries) exhibited the lowest stress levels and predominantly relied on institutional trust and government information, Cluster 4 (Indonesia, Kosovo, Portugal, Taiwan) showed moderate stress levels and was characterised by greater adherence to government-related information, entertainment-based coping, and the highest use of religious or spiritual coping. These findings demonstrate that K-Means clustering provides a useful approach for identifying cross-national stress-coping profiles that may not be evident through conventional statistical analyses. The identified clusters offer insights into variations in coping behaviours across countries and may support the development of more context-specific mental health interventions.