scholarly journals Inequality and psychological well-being in times of COVID-19: evidence from Spain

SERIEs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Martinez-Bravo ◽  
Carlos Sanz

AbstractUsing two novel online surveys collected in May and November 2020, we study the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on Spanish households. We document a large and negative effect on household income. By May 2020, the average individual lived in a household that had lost 16% of their pre-pandemic monthly income. Furthermore, this drop was highly unequal: while households in the richest quintile lost 6.8% of their income, those in the poorest quintile lost 27%. We also document that the pandemic deepened the gender-income gap: on average, women experienced a three-percentage point larger income loss than men. While this is consistent with previous findings in the literature, in this paper we document that this effect is driven by women from middle-income households with kids. Finally, we provide evidence that Spanish individuals experienced moderate declines in their levels of psychological well-being. This effect is not different for individuals living in rich or poor households, but the reasons behind well-being losses do differ: richer individuals are more concerned about loss of contact with dear ones, while low-income individuals are more likely to mention loss of income and employment as a key source of emotional distress.

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. e047650
Author(s):  
Wiraporn Pothisiri ◽  
Paolo Miguel Manalang Vicerra

ObjectiveThe COVID-19 situation in Thailand was controlled with various social measures. Much of the information covered in the media and in studies focused on the public health and economic aspects of the pandemic. This study aimed to explore the psychological well-being of older people, which is important especially in an ageing society categorised as low income or middle income due to the limits of economic and healthcare resources.SettingThe impact of COVID-19 on older persons in Thailand, an online survey, taken across nine provinces within the five regions of the country.ParticipantsInformation was collected from 1230 adults aged at least 60 years old.If an older person was illiterate, unable to access the internet or had a disability preventing them from responding to the survey, an intermediary residing in the community conducted the survey interview.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe analysis focused on the worries of older adults and the factors associated with psychological distress experienced during the pandemic using logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe majority of people aged at least 60 years old experienced psychological distress during COVID-19. Employment loss (OR 1.08, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.38), inadequate income (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.28 to 2.44) and debt incursion (OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.57 to 4.80) were detrimental to psychological well-being. The negative changes in the perception of their health status (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.23 to 2.99) and decreased life satisfaction (OR 1.49, 95% CI 0.45 to 1.87) also weighed on older Thais. The protective factors for psychological well-being were residing in rural areas (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.61) and being married (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.55 to 1.01).ConclusionObserving the concerns of the older population is important for introducing policies that can alleviate their precarious financial and health statuses.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. e045441
Author(s):  
Noemia Teixeira de Siqueira-Filha ◽  
Jinshuo Li ◽  
Eliud Kibuchi ◽  
Zahidul Quayyum ◽  
Penelope Phillips-Howard ◽  
...  

IntroductionPeople living in slums face several challenges to access healthcare. Scarce and low-quality public health facilities are common problems in these communities. Costs and prevalence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) have also been reported as high in studies conducted in slums in developing countries and those suffering from chronic conditions and the poorest households seem to be more vulnerable to financial hardship. The COVID-19 pandemic may be aggravating the economic impact on the extremely vulnerable population living in slums due to the long-term consequences of the disease. The objective of this review is to report the economic impact of seeking healthcare on slum-dwellers in terms of costs and CHE. We will compare the economic impact on slum-dwellers with other city residents.Methods and analysisThis scoping review adopts the framework suggested by Arksey and O’Malley. The review is part of the accountability and responsiveness of slum-dwellers (ARISE) research consortium, which aims to enhance accountability to improve the health and well-being of marginalised populations living in slums in India, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Kenya. Costs of accessing healthcare will be updated to 2020 prices using the inflation rates reported by the International Monetary Fund. Costs will be presented in International Dollars by using purchase power parity. The prevalence of CHE will also be reported.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required for scoping reviews. We will disseminate our results alongside the events organised by the ARISE consortium and international conferences. The final manuscript will be submitted to an open-access international journal. Registration number at the Research Registry: reviewregistry947.


1983 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Haber

A ten-week yoga program was implemented with sixty-one white and forty-five low-income black elders at two community sites, along with a pretest-posttest control group research design with random assignment at each site. White elders attended class regularly, practiced yoga on their own on a daily basis, improved psychological well-being, and lowered their systolic blood pressure level, in comparison to a control group. Black elders, on the other hand, attended the once-a-week class regularly but did not practice on their own on a daily basis. Thus, they did not improve psychological well-being nor reduce blood pressure level in comparison to a control group. Social analysts suggest that low-income minority elders need more frequent contact with structured leadership in order to adhere to a daily routine that may lead to psychological and physical change. Other directions for controlled follow-up studies are suggested.


2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne Lootens ◽  
Greet Van Hoye

Psychological well-being during unemployment: the role of personality and perception of time structure Psychological well-being during unemployment: the role of personality and perception of time structure Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 24, September 2011, nr. 3, pp. 207-232.Unemployed people report lower levels of psychological well-being than employed individuals. However, when unemployed individuals perceive their use of time to be structured and purposive, this negative effect of unemployment on psychological well-being is reduced. This study investigated whether personality – as measured by the Big Five framework – determined the perception of time structure. In a sample of 231 Flemish unemployed people, we found that the more sense of purpose and present orientation individuals showed, the higher their psychological well-being was. Concerning the relation between personality and the perception of time structure, unemployed people with more openness to experience reported less sense of purpose. More conscientious individuals showed more sense of purpose, routine, organization, and present orientation. More neurotic individuals perceived less sense of purpose and present orientation. Finally, more neurotic unemployed individuals with more openness for experience showed lower psychological well-being, due to their lower perception of time structure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanfa Tan ◽  
Chienchung Huang ◽  
Yun Geng ◽  
Shannon P. Cheung ◽  
Shuyan Zhang

Psychological well-being is an important indicator of well-being and has been found to be associated with a multitude of positive life outcomes. Using data collected from 1,871 Chinese college students from September 23 to October 5, 2020, this study examined students' psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigated how resilience and pandemic-related environmental stress may affect psychological well-being. Results showed that resilience had strong positive effects on psychological well-being during the pandemic. Meanwhile, environmental stress had a moderate effect and marginally reduced psychological well-being. The magnitudes of the estimates suggested that increasing resilience can effectively buffer the negative effect of environmental stress on psychological well-being.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (52) ◽  
pp. 14949-14952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary W. Evans

Childhood disadvantage has repeatedly been linked to adult physical morbidity and mortality. We show in a prospective, longitudinal design that childhood poverty predicts multimethodological indices of adult (24 y of age) psychological well-being while holding constant similar childhood outcomes assessed at age 9. Adults from low-income families manifest more allostatic load, an index of chronic physiological stress, higher levels of externalizing symptoms (e.g., aggression) but not internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression), and more helplessness behaviors. In addition, childhood poverty predicts deficits in adult short-term spatial memory.


Author(s):  
Min Kwon ◽  
HyungSeon Kim

The female-headed household is a new vulnerable group associated with health inequality. The purpose of this study was to analyze psychological well-being and related factors among Korean female-headed households based on age stratification. This was a secondary analysis of data extracted from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey (2017), which included a total of 9084 female-headed households. Their psychological well-being was measured by the WHO-5 well-being index. A total of 39.8% of female-headed household workers were psychologically unhealthy. Among them, 2.2% of those aged 15–30 years old, 8.1% aged 30–50 years old, and 29.5% over aged 50 years old were unhealthy. In the age group of 15–30 years old, depression/anxiety was negatively associated with psychological well-being. In the age group of 30–50 years old, living alone, musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and depression/anxiety were negatively associated with psychological well-being. In the age group over 50 years old, low education level, living alone, low income, musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and depression/anxiety were negatively associated with psychological well-being. The psychological well-being perceived by female households is complex and goes beyond economic poverty and dependent burdens. Therefore, a multidimensional support strategy should be included in the concept of social deprivation, and a preventive approach is needed to establish a support system.


Facilities ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 2-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darja Kobal Grum

Purpose In comparison with the relations between the human and natural environments that have been the central focus of environmental psychology for many years, the interactions between the psychological processes underlying human behaviour and the built environment have only recently regained the interest of researchers. In this paper, the author first discusses the reasons for the slower development of human – built environment relations. Afterwards, the author systematically examines the impact that the research of environmental stress, namely, poor housing and poor neighbourhood quality, had on the contemporary understanding of human – built environment relations. Design/methodology/approach The author focuses on social, biophilic and evidence-based design. The author proposes deeper psychological engagement in correlation with human behaviour, psychological well-being and society. The author highlights the inclusion of psychologists in interdisciplinary research teams addressing the development of sustainable solutions to the issues of residential environments. Findings It has been shown that substandard house quality, high noise, lack of natural light in houses, poorer physical quality of urban neighbourhoods, living in a low-income neighbourhood, etc. are linked to elevated physiological and psychological stress. Despite this evidence, there is still a gap between building designers and building users in modern industrialised societies, which could deepen tenants’ dissatisfaction due to specific behavioural needs and consequently lower their psychological well-being and health risk behaviour. Research limitations/implications These are potential risks of error arising from the use of assumptions, limited samples size and data from the secondary resources. Originality/value The major contributions of this paper are as follows. If the environment is understood as a dynamic, constantly changing and complex system of a wide range of players, the author can discern in this environment a dynamic that is otherwise characteristic of emotional dynamics. Expressed participants’ high satisfaction with residential status does not necessarily generate high expectations regarding real estate factors.


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