IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i16p8647-d615294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

COVID-19-Related Financial Hardship, Job Loss, and Mental Health Symptoms: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study in a Rural Agrarian Community in India

Author

Listed:
  • Sangeeta Chatterji

    (Center on Gender Equity and Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA)

  • Lotus McDougal

    (Center on Gender Equity and Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA)

  • Nicole Johns

    (Center on Gender Equity and Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA)

  • Mohan Ghule

    (Center on Gender Equity and Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA)

  • Namratha Rao

    (Center on Gender Equity and Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA)

  • Anita Raj

    (Center on Gender Equity and Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA)

Abstract

Several countries, including India, imposed mandatory social distancing, quarantine, and lockdowns to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Although these measures were effective in curbing the spread of the virus, prolonged social distancing, quarantine, and the resultant economic disruption led to an increase in financial stress and mental health concerns. Prior studies established a link between the first lockdown and an increase in mental health issues. However, few studies investigated the association between post-lockdown financial hardship, job loss, and mental health. In this study, we examined the association between COVID-19-related financial hardship, job loss, and mental health symptoms approximately nine months after the end of the first nationwide lockdown in India. Job loss was associated with higher reporting of mental health symptoms among men (aIRR = 1.16) while financial hardship was associated with poor mental health symptoms among women (aIRR = 1.29). Conversely, social support and government aid were associated with better mental health symptoms among women. Our findings highlight the need for financial assistance and job creation programs to aid families in the recovery process. There is also an urgent need for improving the availability and affordability of mental health services in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Sangeeta Chatterji & Lotus McDougal & Nicole Johns & Mohan Ghule & Namratha Rao & Anita Raj, 2021. "COVID-19-Related Financial Hardship, Job Loss, and Mental Health Symptoms: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study in a Rural Agrarian Community in India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8647-:d:615294
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8647/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8647/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jayati Ghosh, 2020. "A critique of the Indian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(3), pages 519-530, September.
    2. Milner, Allison & Krnjacki, Lauren & Butterworth, Peter & LaMontagne, Anthony D., 2016. "The role of social support in protecting mental health when employed and unemployed: A longitudinal fixed-effects analysis using 12 annual waves of the HILDA cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 20-26.
    3. Manik Kumar & Sweety Pandey, 2021. "Wage Gap Between Formal and Informal Regular Workers in India: Evidence from the National Sample Survey," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 13(1), pages 104-121, January.
    4. Sherbourne, Cathy Donald & Stewart, Anita L., 1991. "The MOS social support survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 705-714, January.
    5. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2020. "Economic impact of government interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: International evidence from financial markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    6. O'Campo, Patricia & Molnar, Agnes & Ng, Edwin & Renahy, Emilie & Mitchell, Christiane & Shankardass, Ketan & St. John, Alexander & Bambra, Clare & Muntaner, Carles, 2015. "Social welfare matters: A realist review of when, how, and why unemployment insurance impacts poverty and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 88-94.
    7. Valerie Bauza & Gloria D. Sclar & Alokananda Bisoyi & Ajilé Owens & Apurva Ghugey & Thomas Clasen, 2021. "Experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural Odisha, India: Knowledge, Preventative Actions, and Impacts on Daily Life," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-17, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. JungHo Park & Sujin Kim, 2023. "Child Tax Credit, Spending Patterns, and Mental Health: Mediation Analyses of Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Gaia Sampogna & Maurizio Pompili & Andrea Fiorillo, 2021. "Mental Health in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Worldwide Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-5, December.
    3. Ilaria Cataldo & Dora Novotny & Alessandro Carollo & Gianluca Esposito, 2023. "Mental Health in the Post-Lockdown Scenario: A Scientometric Investigation of the Main Thematic Trends of Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Mehta, Poonam & Garg, Naval & Gharib, Moaz & Mehak, & Pimpunchat, Busayamas, 2023. "Social support during COVID-19: Exploring the psychometric properties of the PSS-JSAS and its relationship with job search activities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlota de Miquel & Joan Domènech-Abella & Mireia Felez-Nobrega & Paula Cristóbal-Narváez & Philippe Mortier & Gemma Vilagut & Jordi Alonso & Beatriz Olaya & Josep Maria Haro, 2022. "The Mental Health of Employees with Job Loss and Income Loss during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Perceived Financial Stress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Rai, Anish & Mahata, Ajit & Nurujjaman, Md & Majhi, Sushovan & Debnath, Kanish, 2022. "A sentiment-based modeling and analysis of stock price during the COVID-19: U- and Swoosh-shaped recovery," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 592(C).
    3. Ritika & Himanshu & Nawal Kishor, 2023. "Modeling of factors affecting investment behavior during the pandemic: a grey-DEMATEL approach," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 222-235, June.
    4. Denise Catalano & Linda Holloway & Elias Mpofu, 2018. "Mental Health Interventions for Parent Carers of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Practice Guidelines from a Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Valéria Teresa Saraiva Lino & Nádia Cristina Pinheiro Rodrigues & Mônica Kramer de Noronha Andrade & Inês Nascimento de Carvalho Reis & Lucília Almeida Elias Lopes & Soraya Atie, 2019. "Association between visual problems, insufficient emotional support and urinary incontinence with disability in elderly people living in a poor district in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: A six-year follow-up," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-12, May.
    6. Mahata, Ajit & Rai, Anish & Nurujjaman, Md. & Prakash, Om, 2021. "Modeling and analysis of the effect of COVID-19 on the stock price: V and L-shape recovery," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 574(C).
    7. White, Lynn & McQuillan, Julia & Greil, Arthur L. & Johnson, David R., 2006. "Infertility: Testing a helpseeking model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 1031-1041, February.
    8. Teresa Leão & Inês Campos-Matos & Clare Bambra & Giuliano Russo & Julian Perelman, 2018. "Welfare states, the Great Recession and health: Trends in educational inequalities in self-reported health in 26 European countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, February.
    9. Md. Mahmudul Alam & Haitian Wei & Abu N. M. Wahid, 2021. "COVID‐19 outbreak and sectoral performance of the Australian stock market: An event study analysis," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 482-495, September.
    10. Liping Ye & Xinping Zhang, 2021. "The association mechanism between social network types and health‐related behaviours among the elderly in rural Hubei Province, China," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 826-846, May.
    11. Patrick Nürnberger & Dirk von Lewinski & Hans-Bernd Rothenhäusler & Celine Braun & Patrick Reinbacher & Ewald Kolesnik & Andreas Baranyi, 2022. "A biopsychosocial model of severe fear of COVID-19," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Ponzoa, José M. & Gómez, Andrés & Mas, José M., 2023. "EU27 and USA institutions in the digital ecosystem: Proposal for a digital presence measurement index," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Al-Maadid, Alanoud & Alhazbi, Saleh & Al-Thelaya, Khaled, 2022. "Using machine learning to analyze the impact of coronavirus pandemic news on the stock markets in GCC countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    14. Laura M. Wade-Bohleber & Carmen Duss & Aureliano Crameri & Agnes von Wyl, 2020. "Associations of Social and Psychological Resources with Different Facets of Chronic Stress: A Study with Employed and Unemployed Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-17, July.
    15. Francis, Jacinta & Wood, Lisa J. & Knuiman, Matthew & Giles-Corti, Billie, 2012. "Quality or quantity? Exploring the relationship between Public Open Space attributes and mental health in Perth, Western Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1570-1577.
    16. Srinivasan Chokkanathan & Aravindhan Natarajan, 2018. "Perceived Quality of Life following Elder Mistreatment in Rural India," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(5), pages 69-80.
    17. Kenneth G. Rice & Fernán Arana & Hannah Wetstone & Michelle Aiello & Barbara Durán, 2023. "Predicting and Moderating COVID-Fear and Stress among College Students in Argentina and the USA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(15), pages 1-20, August.
    18. Amin Jan & Mário Nuno Mata & Pia A. Albinsson & José Moleiro Martins & Rusni Bt Hassan & Pedro Neves Mata, 2021. "Alignment of Islamic Banking Sustainability Indicators with Sustainable Development Goals: Policy Recommendations for Addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-38, March.
    19. Afees A. Salisu & Abdulsalam Abidemi Sikiru & Philip C. Omoke, 2023. "COVID-19 pandemic and financial innovations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 3885-3904, August.
    20. Zinn, Andrew & Palmer, Ashley N. & Nam, Eunji, 2017. "Developmental heterogeneity of perceived social support among former foster youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 51-58.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8647-:d:615294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.