Mental Health in Ireland During the Covid Pandemic: Evidence from Two Longitudinal Surveys

Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland Covid survey, this study examines the evolution of mental health as measured in December 2020, nine months into the pandemic, compared to observations pre pandemic for two cohorts of people. A deterioration in mental health was observed for both cohorts and particularly for younger women of the 1998 cohort. The increase in the rate of depression predominantly occurred due to an overall decline in mental health rather than being concentrated amongst those already vulnerable (in the sense of being near the depression threshold). There was little, if any, change in the socioeconomic gradient associated with mental health and virtually no gradient at all was observed pre or post pandemic for the 1998 cohort. Mobility analysis revealed that not only did females from the 1998 cohort show greater transitions into depression, they also appeared to transition into more extreme levels of depression. JEL CodesI14, I31. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. AbstractO_ST_ABSBackgroundC_ST_ABSThe Covid pandemic arrived in Ireland on February 29, 2020. In the following weeks various restrictions were introduced to stem the spread of the disease. Anxiety over the spread of the disease and over the restrictions introduced had an adverse effect upon mental health. This study examines the change in mental health for two groups: young adults aged around 23 at the time of onset of Covid (the 1998 cohort) and a sample of principal carers (PCs) of children who were aged 13 at the onset of Covid (the 2008 cohort). MethodsData were obtained from the two cohorts of the longitudinal Growing Up In Ireland (GUI) survey. The sample included 1953 young adults (from the 1998 cohort) and 3547 principal carers (from the 2008 cohort). Mental health as measured by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression - 8 scale was obtained for the last pre-Covid wave and for the Covid wave (surveyed in December 2020). Observations for which CES-D8 was not available in either pre or post Covid waves were excluded. Post-Covid sampling weights were applied. ResultsRelative to the last pre-Covid survey, mental health, as measured by CES-D8 deteriorated for both the young adults of the 1998 cohort and the PCs of the 2008 cohort. For young adults, the deterioration was more pronounced for females. There was no observable socioeconomic gradient for poor mental health amongst young adults, both pre and post Covid. For mothers from the 2008 cohort, a gradient was observed pre-Covid with poorer mental health for lower-income, less well-educated mothers. This gradient was less pronounced post-Covid, the levelling-off arising from a greater deterioration in mental health for higher-income and better-educated PCs. ConclusionBoth observed cohorts showed a significant deterioration in mental health post Covid. For young adults the effect was more pronounced among females.