• Boruijie Pang, Jiahe Zhang, Anthony D Mancini, Xinli Chi, and Gabriele Prati.
• School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
• J Eval Clin Pract. 2025 Feb 1; 31 (1): e14279e14279.

BackgroundIn contrast to abundant research on the various acute mental effects of COVID-19, the long-term influences of the pandemic are still underexplored in China owing to the paucity of assessment tools. The Pandemic Disengagement Syndrome Scale (PDSS) assesses people's social disengagement as a lasting psychological consequence in Western countries during the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. However, its generalizability across cultures is untested.ObjectivesThe present studies aimed to validate Chinese PDSS and compare disengagement syndrome levels among China, the United States and Italy.MethodIn Study 1, a Chinese version of the PDSS was developed, psychometric properties including factor structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance across gender and country, discriminant validity, and test-retest reliability were tested. Study 2 examined demographic differences in the pandemic disengagement syndrome in China and compared Chinese PDSS scores and those in the United States and Italy (Ns = 415US, 455Italy, 826China).Results And ConclusionThe findings indicated that disengagement syndrome may exist among Chinese people even substantially after the acute phases of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Chinese PDSS demonstrating acceptable psychometric features can be a valid instrument to assess the syndrome. Several possible reasons for the persistence of disengagement in China are discussed.© 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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