Moreno Agostino, Dario;
Chanfreau, Jenny;
Knowles, Gemma;
Pelikh, Alina;
Das-Munshi, Jayati;
Ploubidis, George B;
(2024)
Gender inequalities in the disruption of long-term life satisfaction trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of time use: evidence from a prospective cohort study.
BJPsych Open
, 10
(6)
, Article e217. 10.1192/bjo.2024.817.
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Moreno Agostino_gender-inequalities-in-the-disruption-of-long-term-life-satisfaction-trajectories-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-the-role-of-time-use-evidence-from-a-prospective-cohort-study.pdf Download (415kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women's mental health. However, most evidence has focused on mental illbeing outcomes, and there is little evidence on the mechanisms underlying this unequal impact. Aims: To investigate gender differences in the long-term trajectories of life satisfaction, how these were affected during the pandemic and the role of time-use differences in explaining gender inequalities. Method: We used data from 6766 (56.2% women) members of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). Life satisfaction was prospectively assessed between the ages of 26 (1996) and 51 (2021) years, using a single question with responses ranging from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest). We analysed life satisfaction trajectories with piecewise latent growth curve models, and investigated whether gender differences in the change in the life satisfaction trajectories with the pandemic were explained by self-reported time spent doing different paid and unpaid activities. Results: Women had consistently higher life satisfaction than men before the pandemic (Δintercept,unadjusted = 0.213, 95% CI 0.087–0.340; P = 0.001) and experienced a more accelerated decline with the pandemic onset (Δquad2,unadjusted = −0.018, 95% CI −0.026 to −0.011; P < 0.001). Time-use differences did not account for the more accelerated decrease in women's life satisfaction levels with the pandemic (Δquad2,adjusted = −0.016, 95% CI −0.031 to −0.001; P = 0.035). Conclusions: Our study shows pronounced gender inequalities in the impact of the pandemic on the long-term life satisfaction trajectories of adults in their 50s, with women losing their pre-pandemic advantage over men. Self-reported time-use differences did not account for these inequalities. More research is needed to tackle gender inequalities in population mental health.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Gender inequalities in the disruption of long-term life satisfaction trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of time use: evidence from a prospective cohort study |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1192/bjo.2024.817 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2024.817 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Epidemiology, longitudinal data, structural equation modelling, latent variable modelling, statistical methodology |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10198319 |
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