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Gugushvili A, Präg P. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and perceived intergenerational mobility in Europe. THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY 2024. [PMID: 39020504 DOI: 10.1111/1468-4446.13135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2024] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/19/2024]
Abstract
In this study, we shed light on the social consequences the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has had in other European countries. We argue that positive perceptions of one's intergenerational mobility are linked with political and economic stability and that the war can thus be expected to impact intergenerational mobility perceptions. We test our pre-registered hypothesis with representative survey data from three European countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden, which were significantly affected by the ongoing war. Our results show that individuals' war-related concerns in all countries are divided into proximal and distal concerns. In turn, proximal concerns go along with greater perceived downward and less perceived upward mobility in the United Kingdom and Germany. We interpret these findings by calling for expanding the horizons of intergenerational mobility research by incorporating areas of life other than socio-economic position.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexi Gugushvili
- Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Patrick Präg
- Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST), ENSAE, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France
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2
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Gugushvili A. The heterogeneous well-being effects of intergenerational mobility perceptions. J Health Psychol 2024; 29:99-112. [PMID: 37466150 PMCID: PMC11378449 DOI: 10.1177/13591053231187345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals make comparisons with their parents which determine their intergenerational mobility perceptions, yet very little is known about the areas used for intergenerational comparison and whether these matter for individuals' well-being. In 2021 we commissioned a nationally representative survey in Georgia in which we explicitly asked 1159 individuals an open-ended question on the most important areas in their intergenerational comparisons. More than 170 types of answers were provided by respondents and many of these responses went beyond the standard indicators of intergenerational mobility. We show that the areas of intergenerational comparison significantly differ between those who perceive themselves as being downwardly and upwardly mobile or immobile using the measure of mobility previously validated in cross-national research. Using, among other statistical approaches, treatment effects estimators, we demonstrate that some areas of intergenerational comparison, particularly in terms of income attainment, are significantly and consistently associated with internationally validated measures of well-being.
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Kraft P, Kraft B. Exploring the relationship between multiple dimensions of subjective socioeconomic status and self-reported physical and mental health: the mediating role of affect. Front Public Health 2023; 11:1138367. [PMID: 37575108 PMCID: PMC10416252 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1138367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction This study aimed to investigate the predictive effects of two types of subjective socioeconomic status on self-reported physical and mental health. Specifically, we examined the MacArthur Scale (MacArthur) which measures perceived socioeconomic rank in the society and a novel scale called ComSim, which assessed how participants compared themselves socioeconomically to others coming from a similar socioeconomic background. We also considered the influence of income, education, and personal relative deprivation (PRD) in these analyses. Additionally, we explored whether these effects were mediated through negative and positive affect. Methods The data were collected through a cross-sectional, two-wave survey of 294 women and 294 men, with a mean age 41.6 years. Participants were recruited via an online platform. Results The results from multivariate regression models revealed that socioeconomic status measured with both the MacArthur Scale and ComSim significantly predicted both self-reported health measures, whereas income and education did not predict any of these measures in the full multivariate models. PRD only predicted self-reported mental health. Mediation analyses showed that negative and positive affect mediated the relationships between socioeconomic status measured by ComSim and self-reported health measures. Discussion These findings are discussed in the context of the similarity hypothesis of social comparison theory. The results underscore the importance of considering multiple dimensions when examining socioeconomic health disparities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pål Kraft
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology, Oslo New University College, Oslo, Norway
| | - Brage Kraft
- Division of Psychiatry, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway
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Kim Y, Lee Y. Economic development, intergenerational mobility, and health in South Korea. ECONOMICS AND HUMAN BIOLOGY 2023; 50:101260. [PMID: 37276699 DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2023.101260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
A growing number of studies reported the association between social mobility and health. However, few studies investigated whether the association varies by age group. Drawing on the economic environment that facilitated social mobility in South Korea, we postulate each age group had a different extent of social mobility, which would vary with the extent of economic growth and affect the association between social mobility and health. We used data from KDI National Happiness Survey 2018 and measured perceived mobility using respondents' perceived social position and their parents' social position. We examined whether social mobility was associated with self-rated health and psychological well-being. The upwardly mobile individuals were more likely than the stable ones to report 'happy'. Such a positive association between upward mobility and happiness was consistently found when the sample was restricted to the ages 30-59 and 40-49. For self-rated health, the downwardly mobile individuals were less likely to report good health. However, no significant difference in self-rated health was found after the youngest and oldest age groups were excluded. We found that perceived social mobility was strongly associated with psychological well-being rather than self-rated health. Moreover, we found a stronger association between upward mobility and happiness among the aged 40-49, who had the largest proportion of upwardly mobile individuals and spent their adolescence during rapid economic growth. The findings underscore the importance of the economic and social context in which individuals perceive their social position and shape their well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonsu Kim
- University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4700 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89119, United States.
| | - Yongsoo Lee
- Korea Development Institute, 263 Namsejong-ro, Sejong-si 30149, Republic of Korea
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Iveson MH, Cox SR, Deary IJ. Intergenerational Social Mobility and Health in Later Life: Diagonal Reference Models Applied to the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2022; 77:2257-2264. [PMID: 35952386 PMCID: PMC9799199 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbac107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Although commonly used to model associations between intergenerational social mobility and health, linear regression cannot estimate the contributions of origin, destination, and mobility independently. Nonlinear diagonal reference models (DRMs) have become a popular alternative and have been applied to various health outcomes, though few studies examine the impact of social mobility on later-life health. METHODS This study revisits health outcomes examined in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, using DRMs to assess the association between intergenerational social mobility and satisfaction with life, self-rated health, depression, and mortality from age 68-82 years. RESULTS After adjusting for sex, age, education, and childhood cognitive ability, there was no evidence of an association between intergenerational social mobility and later-life health; participants experiencing upward or downward mobility had similar odds of poor health outcomes as non-mobile participants. However, those from higher occupational social classes exhibited lower odds of mortality (p = .01), with a stronger contribution of adult (own) than of childhood (father's) social class (weights = 0.75 vs. 0.25). No other outcomes demonstrated significant associations with socioeconomic position. DISCUSSION This adds to evidence that social mobility does not influence variation in later-life health once other factors-including socioeconomic origins and destinations-are accounted for.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew H Iveson
- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Simon R Cox
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Ian J Deary
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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Daza S, Palloni A. Early Exposure to County Income Mobility and Adult Individual Health in the United States. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2022; 77:S199-S208. [PMID: 35106575 PMCID: PMC9154259 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbab240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Previous research in the United States suggests contextual income mobility may play a role in explaining the disparities between life expectancy in the United States and peer countries. This article aims to extend previous research by estimating the consequences of average individual exposure to mobility regimes during childhood and adolescence on adult health. METHODS This study draws its data from two longitudinal datasets that track the county of residence of respondents during childhood and adolescence, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. We implement marginal structural models to assess the association of the average exposure to county income mobility on five health outcomes and behaviors. RESULTS The results are only partially consistent with a systematic association between exposure to income mobility and health outcomes. Evidence obtained from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth suggests less income mobility might increase the probability of smoking by age 30. DISCUSSION The paper provides a precise assessment of the hypothesis that childhood exposure to income mobility regimes may influence health status through behavior later in life and contribute to longevity gaps. Only partial evidence on smoking suggests an association between income mobility and health, so we discuss potential reasons for the disparities in results with previous research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Daza
- Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Institute of Economy Geography and Demography, CSIC-CCHS, Madrid, Spain
| | - Alberto Palloni
- Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Institute of Economy Geography and Demography, CSIC-CCHS, Madrid, Spain
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Gugushvili A. Information About Inequality of Opportunity Increases Downward Mobility Perceptions: A Population-Wide Randomized Survey Experiment. Front Psychol 2022; 13:868303. [PMID: 35602718 PMCID: PMC9115553 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.868303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Existing evidence which is primarily based on cross-sectional and observational data suggests that perceptions of doing worse or better than parents might be more important for various life outcomes than the conventional measures of mobility based on the objective indicators of socioeconomic position. In 2021, we commissioned a nationally representative survey in Georgia which included a population-wide randomized survey experiment. We confirmed the association between, on the one hand, perceived social mobility and, on the other hand, physical and mental health, satisfaction with life, and the perceived state of affairs in the country. More importantly, the experimental design allowed us to conclude that the perception of being downwardly mobile was causally determined by a short message shared with individuals that equality of opportunity in their country was low. Those who were given information that children's socioeconomic position was strongly linked to their parents' socioeconomic position were seven percentage points more likely than individuals in the control group to perceive themselves as being downwardly mobile. We extrapolate these findings to the broader context and argue that the messages about (in)equality of opportunity which individuals receive in their everyday lives might also shape their perceptions of social mobility in other countries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexi Gugushvili
- Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Bulczak G, Gugushvili A. Downward income mobility among individuals with poor initial health is linked with higher cardiometabolic risk. PNAS NEXUS 2022; 1:pgac012. [PMID: 36712801 PMCID: PMC9802411 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
The effects of socioeconomic position (SEP) across life course accumulate and produce visible health inequalities between different socioeconomic groups. Yet, it is not well-understood how the experience of intergenerational income mobility between origin and destination SEP, per se, affects health outcomes. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health collected in the United States with the outcome measure of cardiometabolic risk (CMR) constructed from data on LDL Cholesterol, Glucose MG/DL, C-reactive protein, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and resting heart rate. Intergenerational income mobility is estimated as the difference between Waves 1 and 5 income quintiles. Diagonal reference models are used to test if intergenerational income mobility, net of origin and destination income quintile effects, is associated with CMR. We find that individuals in the lowest and the highest income quintiles have, respectively, the highest and the lowest CMR; both origin and destination income quintiles are equally important; there are no significant overall income mobility effects for different gender and race/ethnicity groups, but downward income mobility has negative health implications for individuals with poor initial health. We conclude that downward income mobility can increase inequalities in CMR in the United States by worsening the health of those who had poor health before their mobility experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grzegorz Bulczak
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330, Warsaw, Poland
- Faculty of Management,Gdynia Maritime University, 81-87 Morska, 81-225 Gdynia, Poland
| | - Alexi Gugushvili
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Sociology and Human Geography, Harriet Holters hus, Moltke Moesvei 31, 0851, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Nuffield College,University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Gugushvili A, Zelinska O, Präg P, Bulczak G. Does perceived social mobility affect health? Evidence from a fixed effects approach. Soc Sci Med 2022; 294:114705. [PMID: 35030398 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Revised: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE The question as to whether changing one's socioeconomic position over the life course affects health has not been answered in a conclusive manner. At the same time, it has been established that individuals who think of themselves that they are higher in the social hierarchy are healthier than those who think otherwise. OBJECTIVE In this study, we focus on perceived social mobility to shed new light on the issue of how social mobility affects health. We examine whether perceived social mobility, i.e., an individual's appraisal of doing better or worse than their parents, affects health by analyzing longitudinal data from Poland. METHODS Using a fixed effects approach to account for all time-invariant and important time-varying confounders, we analyze the Polish Panel Survey which has been collecting data on participants' social mobility perceptions along with information on their self-reported physical health and psychological wellbeing. RESULTS We find that perceived social mobility is a significant predictor of self-reported physical health and psychological wellbeing, even in models that adjust for a host of theoretically relevant control variables. The results demonstrate that upward subjective mobility has a consistent and strong positive effect on health outcomes. The effect of perceived social mobility is stronger for males and for those with less advantageous social origins. CONCLUSIONS Our findings are in line with the "from rags to riches" theoretical perspective, emphasizing the positive implications of upward social mobility on health through various psychological mechanisms. Based on our findings, we call for greater scholarly attention to subjective aspects of social mobility in research on health outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexi Gugushvili
- Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo Postboks 1096 Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway; Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Swiat 72, 00 330, Warszawa, Poland.
| | - Olga Zelinska
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Swiat 72, 00 330, Warszawa, Poland.
| | - Patrick Präg
- Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST), ENSAE, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 5 Avenue Henry Le Chatelier, 91764, Palaiseau, France.
| | - Grzegorz Bulczak
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Swiat 72, 00 330, Warszawa, Poland; Faculty of Management, Gdynia Maritime University, 81-87 Morska, 81-225, Gdynia, Poland.
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Zelinska O, Gugushvili A, Bulczak G. Social Mobility, Health and Wellbeing in Poland. FRONTIERS IN SOCIOLOGY 2021; 6:736249. [PMID: 34901260 PMCID: PMC8656426 DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.736249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Recently there has been a surge of interest in the consequences of intergenerational social mobility on individuals' health and wellbeing outcomes. However, studies on the effects of social mobility on health, using high-quality panel survey data, have almost exclusively been conducted in Western welfare democracies. To account for this gap, and using empirical data from one of the largest and most eventful post-communist countries, Poland, in this study we investigate how individuals' origin and destination socio-economic position and social mobility are linked to self-rated health and reported psychological wellbeing. We use the Polish Panel Survey (POLPAN) data to construct self-rated health and psychological wellbeing measures, origin, destination and occupational class mobility variables, and account for an extensive set of sociodemographic determinants of health. We employ diagonal reference models to distinguish social mobility effects from origin and destination effects, and account for possible health selection mechanisms. Our results suggest that there is an occupational class gradient in health in Poland and that both parental and own occupational class matter for individual health outcomes. We also find a positive reported psychological wellbeing effect for upward social mobility from the working to the professional class.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Zelinska
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Alexi Gugushvili
- Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Grzegorz Bulczak
- Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Veenstra G, Vanzella-Yang A. Intergenerational social mobility and self-rated health in Canada. SSM Popul Health 2021; 15:100890. [PMID: 34401466 PMCID: PMC8358188 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing body of research seeks to reveal the health effects of 'falling from grace' or 'rising from rags,' i.e., experiencing downward or upward mobility relative to one's family socioeconomic background. In this study, we mobilized a unique dataset, the 2012 Longitudinal and International Study of Adults linked to historical income data from the Canada Revenue Agency, to investigate associations between both educational and income mobility and self-rated health in a national sample of approximately 2500 women and 2300 men aged 25 to 50. Compared to educational immobility, extreme downward educational mobility corresponded to elevated odds of reporting good/fair/poor health among women (OR = 3.053; 95% CI = 0.991 … 9.393). Compared to income immobility, downward income mobility in general (OR = 1.533; 95% CI = 1.115 … 2.106) and extreme downward income mobility in particular (OR = 2.389; 95% CI = 1.481 … 3.854) both corresponded to elevated odds of reporting good/fair/poor health among women. Among men, extreme upward income mobility (OR = 0.674; 95% CI = 0.463 … 0.984) corresponded to reduced odds of reporting good/fair/poor health and extreme downward income mobility (OR = 2.237; 95% CI = 1.157 … 4.323) corresponded to elevated odds of reporting good/fair/poor health, compared to men with immobile incomes. In summary, upward income mobility was beneficial for men's self-rated health, downward educational mobility was detrimental to the self-rated health of women, and downward income mobility was detrimental to the self-rated health of both women and men in this Canadian study.
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Ellwardt L, Präg P. Heterogeneous mental health development during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Sci Rep 2021; 11:15958. [PMID: 34354201 PMCID: PMC8342469 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95490-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
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 ([Formula: see text]), 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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lea Ellwardt
- Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Albert-Magnus-Platz, 50935, Cologne, Germany.
| | - Patrick Präg
- Center for Research in Economics and Statistics, ENSAE, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 91120, Palaiseau, France
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