Poor mental health in lockdown most common among young women

Young women are the most likely to have experienced high levels of depression, anxiety and loneliness in lockdown, compared to older adults, according to new research from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). The study, published today as a briefing paper, also found that young women (aged 30) have shown the biggest increase in mental health problems since they were previously assessed some years before compared to middle-aged (aged 50) and older adults (aged 62). The research team at the UCL Institute of Education carried out a survey in May 2020 of over 18,000 people born in 1958 (aged 62), 1970 (aged 50), 1989-90 (aged 30), and 2000-02 (aged 19), to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of four generations of people. The survey was completed by participants of nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies, which have been following their lives since childhood. The researchers found that poor mental health in lockdown was most common among the 19-year-olds surveyed, followed by the 30-year-old millennials. Across all four age groups, women were more likely than men to experience mental health problems. Among 19-year-olds, just over one third of women and just under one quarter of men had symptoms of depression during lockdown in May, and 45% of women and 42% of men had felt lonely during this time.