Zaninotto, Paola;
Iob, Eleonora;
Di Gessa, Giorgio;
Steptoe, Andrew;
(2025)
Recovery of psychological wellbeing following the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal analysis of the English longitudinal study of ageing.
Aging & Mental Health
10.1080/13607863.2025.2450260.
(In press).
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Abstract
Objectives: To assess changes in positive psychological wellbeing and depression before, during and after the pandemic in older people, and evaluate whether mental wellbeing had returned to pre-pandemic levels after the pandemic. We also tested whether these responses varied by age, gender, living arrangements and economic resources. // Method: We used 3999 ELSA participants aged 50+ with data during (June/July and November/December 2020), before (2012–2019) and after (2021–23) the pandemic. Three elements of positive psychological wellbeing (affective, eudaemonic, evaluative wellbeing) were assessed along with depressive symptoms. Two-way fixed-effects linear regression models were used to estimate trajectories of outcomes. // Results: Positive wellbeing declined in mid-2020, with further decreases in late 2020. These responses were related to economic prosperity and age. All aspects of positive wellbeing improved after the pandemic, with eudaemonic and evaluative wellbeing surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Conversely, the prevalence of depressive symptoms increased from 11.4% before the pandemic to 27.2% during the pandemic, but remained above pre-pandemic levels in 2021–23 (14.9%). // Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted depressive symptoms and the positive wellbeing of older people. Attention should focus on the positive aspects of healthy mental ageing in periods of societal disruptions, as specific population sectors remain particularly vulnerable.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Recovery of psychological wellbeing following the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal analysis of the English longitudinal study of ageing |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/13607863.2025.2450260 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2025.2450260 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Depression; wellbeing; longitudinal analysis, COVID |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204688 |
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