Monitoring socioeconomic and mental health trajectories through the Covid-19 pandemic

This study will use the nationally representative data collected monthly by the UKHLS COVID panel to assess the pandemic’s ongoing impact on individuals’ mental health and financial situation, and how this differs among subgroups of the UK population. By combining this with baseline data collected from previous waves of the UKHLS we will be able to identify who has felt the deepest and the longest-lasting impact on their financial situation and their mental health from the Covid-19 pandemic, and how these two impacts are related. Data collected in April 2020 – when the pandemic was at its initial height in the UK – will allow us to identify the groups that were particularly badly hit by the initial shock to the UK economy and social distancing measures intrdouced. Multilevel models will be used to identify the significant factors in explaining poor mental health and poor economic circumstances at the height of the pandemic in the UK as well as to identify groups at particular high risk. Subsequent monthly data will allow us to identify the rate and extent of the recovery of high risk groups. By modelling individuals’ personal characteristics and socioeconomic situation (including their exposure to schemes aimed at mitigating economic shocks) as well as their mental health and economic situation at each time point, we will be able to identify what personal factors and external interventions are associated with a fuller or quicker recovery, and which individuals remain vulnerable and require additional help to recover.