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The impact of the coronavirus lockdown on mental health: evidence from the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Abi Adams-Prassl
  • Teodora Boneva
  • Marta Golin
  • Christopher Rauh

Abstract

The coronavirus outbreak has caused significant disruptions to people’s lives. We exploit variation in lockdown measures across states to document the impact of stay-at-home orders on mental health using real-time survey data in the United States. We find that the lockdown measures lowered mental health by 0.083 standard deviations. This large negative effect is entirely driven by women. As a result of the lockdown measures, the existing gender gap in mental health has increased by 61%. The negative effect on women’s mental health cannot be explained by an increase in financial worries or caring responsibilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Abi Adams-Prassl & Teodora Boneva & Marta Golin & Christopher Rauh, 2022. "The impact of the coronavirus lockdown on mental health: evidence from the United States," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(109), pages 139-155.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ecpoli:v:37:y:2022:i:109:p:139-155.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/epolic/eiac002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marcus, Jan, 2013. "The Effect of Unemployment on the Mental Health of Spouses – Evidence from plant closures in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 546-558.
    2. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Rada K Dagher & Jie Chen & Stephen B Thomas, 2015. "Gender Differences in Mental Health Outcomes before, during, and after the Great Recession," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    4. Armbruster, Stephanie & Klotzbücher, Valentin, 2020. "Lost in lockdown? COVID-19, social distancing, and mental health in Germany," Discussion Paper Series 2020-04, University of Freiburg, Wilfried Guth Endowed Chair for Constitutional Political Economy and Competition Policy.
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    1. Iyer, S. & Larcom, S. & She, P-W., 2024. "Do Religious People Cope Better in a Crisis? Evidence from the UK Pandemic Lockdowns," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2403, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Francesco Ruotolo & Gennaro Ruggiero & Zaira Cattaneo & Maria Arioli & Michela Candini & Francesca Frassinetti & Francesca Pazzaglia & Ferdinando Fornara & Andrea Bosco & Tina Iachini, 2023. "Psychological Reactions during and after a Lockdown: Self-Efficacy as a Protective Factor of Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Kristina Czura & Florian Englmaier & Hoa Ho & Lisa Spantig, 2023. "Employee Performance and Mental Well-Being: The Mitigating Effects of Transformational Leadership during Crisis," CESifo Working Paper Series 10433, CESifo.
    4. Kalenkoski, Charlene Marie & Wulff Pabilonia, Sabrina, 2023. "Teen Social Interactions and Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1324, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Bahal, Girish & Iyer, Sriya & Shastry, Kishen & Shrivastava, Anand, 2023. "Religion, Covid-19 and mental health," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    6. Oyenubi, Adeola & Kollamparambil, Umakrishnan, 2023. "Does noncompliance with COVID-19 regulations impact the depressive symptoms of others?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Quintana-Domeque, Climent & Zeng, Jingya, 2023. "COVID-19 and Mental Health: Natural Experiments of the Costs of Lockdowns," IZA Discussion Papers 16532, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Colella, Sara & Dufourt, Frédéric & Hildebrand, Vincent A. & Vivès, Rémi, 2023. "Mental health effects of COVID-19 lockdowns: A Twitter-based analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    9. Francesco Bogliacino & Cristiano Codagnone & Frans Folkvord & Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva, 2023. "The impact of labour market shocks on mental health: evidence from the Covid-19 first wave," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(3), pages 899-930, October.
    10. Sebastian Szajkowski & Jarosław Pasek & Michał Dwornik & Grzegorz Cieślar, 2022. "The Impact of Coronavirus Infection on Health-Related Quality of Life in Amateur CrossFit Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Etheridge, Ben & Spantig, Lisa, 2022. "The gender gap in mental well-being at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from the UK," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    12. Hanson, S. & Belderson, P. & Ward, E. & Naughton, F. & Notley, C., 2023. "Lest we forget. Illuminating lived experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    13. Cho, Yoonyoung & Molina, Teresa, 2024. "The Importance of Existing Social Protection Programs for Mental Health in Pandemic Times," IZA Discussion Papers 16737, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Jeong, Soyun & Fox, Ashley M., 2023. "Enhanced unemployment benefits, mental health, and substance use among low-income households during the COVID-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    15. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2024. "Seasonality and the female happiness paradox," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 1-33, February.
    16. Krzysztof Drachal & Daniel González Cortés, 2022. "Estimation of Lockdowns’ Impact on Well-Being in Selected Countries: An Application of Novel Bayesian Methods and Google Search Queries Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, December.
    17. Sunoong Hwang & Heeju Shin, 2023. "Gender Gap in Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea: A Decomposition Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-14, January.
    18. Janeen Baxter & Alice Campbell & Rennie Lee, 2023. "Gender Gaps in Unpaid Domestic and Care Work: Putting The Pandemic in (a Life Course) Perspective," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 56(4), pages 502-515, December.
    19. Antonio Chirumbolo & Antonino Callea & Flavio Urbini, 2022. "Living in Liquid Times: The Relationships among Job Insecurity, Life Uncertainty, and Psychosocial Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.
    20. Dunfrey Pires Aragão & Andouglas Gonçalves da Silva Junior & Adriano Mondini & Cosimo Distante & Luiz Marcos Garcia Gonçalves, 2023. "COVID-19 Patterns in Araraquara, Brazil: A Multimodal Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-21, March.
    21. Andrea Bonfatti & Greta Pesaresi & Guglielmo Weber & Nancy Zambon, 2023. "The economic impact of the first wave of the pandemic on 50+ Europeans," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 607-659, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    I10; I14; I18; I30;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

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