Coronavirus (COVID-19): mental health tracker study - wave 2 report

Wave 2 findings (data collected from 17 July and 17 August 2020) indicate increased rates of suicidal thoughts, no significant changes in rates of depression or anxiety, and an improvement in most other indicators of mental health and wellbeing, compared to Wave 1 (data from 28 May to 21 June 2020)


2. Sample and Respondent Characteristics

A total of 1703 respondents took part in Wave 2 of the SCOVID Mental Health Tracker Study, however as previously stated, the results are weighted to reflect the Scottish population and thus the findings reported here are weighted to reflect 2500 respondents. See Table 2.1 for unweighted and weighted sample characteristics. As reported in the previous section, several of the demographic groups were underrepresented in the non-weighted sample, and therefore in this report the weighted sample is used in all analysis.

The weighted sample was 51.7% women (sex assigned at birth) and 21.9% were aged 18–29 years, with 47.5% aged 30-59 years, and 29.8% aged 60+ years. The majority of the sample was White (95.8%), over half of the respondents (58.3%) were married or living with a partner, and the majority were heterosexual (90.2%). Around half of the sample had a HNC/D or degree level education (49.0%), and over half of the sample was in the higher (A, B, C1) socioeconomic groups (SEG)[15] (62.9%).

Table 2.1 Weighted and unweighted demographic characteristics of the Wave 2 sample
Characteristic Weighted* (n=2500) % Unweighted (n=1703) %
Sexa
Men 48.3% 49.4%
Women 51.7% 50.6%
Age
18-29 years 21.9% 10.4%
30-59 years 47.5% 51.2%
60+ years 30.6% 38.4%
Ethnicity
White 95.8% 97.1%
Asian 2.2% 1.7%
Black 0.6% 0.2%
Mixed 0.8% 0.6%
Other/prefer not to say 0.5% 0.3%
Relationship status
Married/living with partner 58.3% 63.1%
Single 28.7% 23.1%
Separated/ divorced/widowed 11.5% 13.2%
Other/prefer not to say 1.5% 0.6%
Sexuality
Heterosexual 90.2% 92.2%
Gay or bisexual 8.3% 6.6%
Other/prefer not to say 1.4% 1.2%
Highest Qualification
No Qualifications 15.5% 5.6%
Secondary school education 35.1% 34.4%
HNC/D or Degree/ other 49.0% 59.4%
Key worker role 18.8% 18.1%
Carer roleb 14.9% 16.5%
Socioeconomic group (SEG)c
High 62.9% 66.4%
Low 37.1% 33.6%
Housing tenure
Own (including mortgage) 62.2% 69.8%
Private rent 14.5% 12.7%
Council rent 17.0% 14.1%
Other 6.3% 3.4%
Property type
House 69.9% 72.9%
Room in shared house 0.3% 0.2%
Apartment or flat in block 28.0% 25.7%
Student Halls 0.7% 0.1%
Residential home 0.7% 0.6%
Other 0.5% 0.4%

Note:*data are weighted to more accurately reflect the Scottish population a Sex assigned at birth, bUnpaid caring responsibilities, c SEG categories A, B, C1= higher SEG; categories C2, D, E= lower SEG

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

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