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The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis
BACKGROUND: The Covid-19 pandemic has had a substantial population mental health impact, with evidence indicating that mental health has deteriorated in particular for women. This gender difference could be explained by the distinct experiences of women during the pandemic, including the burden of u...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10198511/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37205670 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283514 |
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author | Dotsikas, Kate Crosby, Liam McMunn, Anne Osborn, David Walters, Kate Dykxhoorn, Jennifer |
author_facet | Dotsikas, Kate Crosby, Liam McMunn, Anne Osborn, David Walters, Kate Dykxhoorn, Jennifer |
author_sort | Dotsikas, Kate |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The Covid-19 pandemic has had a substantial population mental health impact, with evidence indicating that mental health has deteriorated in particular for women. This gender difference could be explained by the distinct experiences of women during the pandemic, including the burden of unpaid domestic labour, changes in economic activity, and experiences of loneliness. This study investigates potential mediators in the relationship between gender and mental health during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. METHODS: We used data from 9,351 participants of Understanding Society, a longitudinal household survey from the UK. We conducted a mediation analysis using structural equation modelling to estimate the role of four mediators, measured during the first lockdown in April 2020, in the relationship between gender and mental health in May and July 2020. Mental health was measured with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Standardized coefficients for each path were obtained, as well as indirect effects for the role of employment disruption, hours spent on housework, hours spent on childcare, and loneliness. RESULTS: In a model controlling for age, household income and pre-pandemic mental health, we found that gender was associated with all four mediators, but only loneliness was associated with mental health at both time points. The indirect effects showed strong evidence of partial mediation through loneliness for the relationship between gender and mental health problems; loneliness accounted for 83.9% of the total effect in May, and 76.1% in July. No evidence of mediation was found for housework, childcare, or employment disruption. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the worse mental health found among women during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic is partly explained by women reporting more experiences of loneliness. Understanding this mechanism is important for prioritising interventions to address gender-based inequities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10198511 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101985112023-05-20 The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis Dotsikas, Kate Crosby, Liam McMunn, Anne Osborn, David Walters, Kate Dykxhoorn, Jennifer PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The Covid-19 pandemic has had a substantial population mental health impact, with evidence indicating that mental health has deteriorated in particular for women. This gender difference could be explained by the distinct experiences of women during the pandemic, including the burden of unpaid domestic labour, changes in economic activity, and experiences of loneliness. This study investigates potential mediators in the relationship between gender and mental health during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. METHODS: We used data from 9,351 participants of Understanding Society, a longitudinal household survey from the UK. We conducted a mediation analysis using structural equation modelling to estimate the role of four mediators, measured during the first lockdown in April 2020, in the relationship between gender and mental health in May and July 2020. Mental health was measured with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Standardized coefficients for each path were obtained, as well as indirect effects for the role of employment disruption, hours spent on housework, hours spent on childcare, and loneliness. RESULTS: In a model controlling for age, household income and pre-pandemic mental health, we found that gender was associated with all four mediators, but only loneliness was associated with mental health at both time points. The indirect effects showed strong evidence of partial mediation through loneliness for the relationship between gender and mental health problems; loneliness accounted for 83.9% of the total effect in May, and 76.1% in July. No evidence of mediation was found for housework, childcare, or employment disruption. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the worse mental health found among women during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic is partly explained by women reporting more experiences of loneliness. Understanding this mechanism is important for prioritising interventions to address gender-based inequities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Public Library of Science 2023-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC10198511/ /pubmed/37205670 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283514 Text en © 2023 Dotsikas et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Dotsikas, Kate Crosby, Liam McMunn, Anne Osborn, David Walters, Kate Dykxhoorn, Jennifer The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis |
title | The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis |
title_full | The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis |
title_fullStr | The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis |
title_full_unstemmed | The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis |
title_short | The gender dimensions of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: A path analysis |
title_sort | gender dimensions of mental health during the covid-19 pandemic: a path analysis |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10198511/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37205670 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283514 |
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