Universität zu Köln

Ellwardt, Lea ORCID: 0000-0001-9292-2392 and Prag, Patrick (2021). Heterogeneous mental health development during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Sci Rep, 11 (1). BERLIN: NATURE PORTFOLIO. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the mitigation measures by governments have upended the economic and social lives of many, leading to widespread psychological distress. We explore heterogeneity in trajectories of psychological distress during the pandemic in the United Kingdom and relate this heterogeneity to socio-demographic and health factors. We analyze nine waves of longitudinal, nationally representative survey data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (N=15,914), covering the period from early 2020 to mid-2021. First, latent class mixture modelling is used to identify trajectories of psychological distress. Second, associations of the trajectories with covariates are tested with multinomial logistic regressions. We find four different trajectories of distress: continuously low, temporarily elevated, repeatedly elevated, and continuously elevated distress. Nearly two fifths of the population experienced severely elevated risks of distress during the pandemic. Long-term distress was highest among younger people, women, people living without a partner, those who had no work or lost income, and those with previous health conditions or COVID-19 symptoms. Given the threat of persistent stress on health, policy measures should be sensitized to the unintended yet far-reaching consequences of non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Ellwardt, Lea UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-9292-2392 UNSPECIFIED Prag, Patrick UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-572932
DOI:	10.1038/s41598-021-95490-w
Journal or Publication Title:	Sci Rep
Volume:	11
Number:	1
Date:	2021
Publisher:	NATURE PORTFOLIO
Place of Publication:	BERLIN
ISSN:	2045-2322
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language LOCKDOWN; STRESS Multiple languages Multidisciplinary Sciences Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/57293