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

This study will use nationally representative data collected monthly by the UK Household Longitudinal Study's (UKHLS) questionnaire which gathers information on people's experiences during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. This information will be used 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 information within the Covid-19 questionnaire with baseline data collected in previous years as part 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, 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 immediately hit by the initial shock to the UK economy and social distancing measures introduced. The research will use statistical modelling 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 examining 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 and possibly policy interventions to recover.