Arbeitspapier

The CoViD-19 pandemic and mental health: Disentangling crucial channels

Since the start of the CoViD-19 pandemic, a major source of concern has been its effect on mental health. Using pre- pandemic information and have customized questionnaires in the Dutch LISS panel, we investigate how mental health in the working population has evolved along with the most prominent risk factors associated with the pandemic. Overall, mental health decreased sharply with the onset of the first lockdown but recovered fairly quickly. In December 2020, levels of mental health are comparable to those in November 2019. We show that perceived risk of infection, labor market uncertainty, and emotional loneliness are all associated with worsening mental health. Both the initial drop and subsequent recovery are larger for parents of children below the age of 12. Among parents, the patterns are particularly pronounced for fathers if they shoulder the bulk of additional care. Mothers' mental health takes a particularly steep hit if they work from home and their partner is designated to take care during the additional hours.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: ZEW Discussion Papers ; No. 21-044

Classification
Wirtschaft
Health: General
Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: General
Time Allocation and Labor Supply
Subject
COVID-19
mental health
gender
lockdown
child care

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Siflinger, Bettina
Paffenholz, Michaela
Seitz, Sebastian
Mendel, Moritz
von Gaudecker, Hans-Martin
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung
(where)
Mannheim
(when)
2021

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

This object is provided by:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.

Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Siflinger, Bettina
  • Paffenholz, Michaela
  • Seitz, Sebastian
  • Mendel, Moritz
  • von Gaudecker, Hans-Martin
  • ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung

Time of origin

  • 2021

Other Objects (12)