Scottish COVID-19 Mental Health Tracker Study: Wave 3 Report

Annex 3: COVID-19 Contextual factors

Effects of COVID-19

Respondents were asked: All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole nowadays?

• The older age group (60+ years) reported higher life satisfaction than the younger age groups.
• Respondents in lower SEG reported lower life satisfaction than those in the higher SEG.
• Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition reported lower life satisfaction than those without a pre-existing condition.
• Respondents with a pre-existing physical health condition reported lower life satisfaction than those with no physical health condition.

Respondents were asked: How much does COVID-19 affect your life? (On a scale from No effect at all to Severely affects my life).

• The older age group (60+ years) reported that COVID-19 affected their life less severely than younger age groups.
• The youngest age group (18-29 years) reported the highest impact of COVID-19.
• Women reported feeling that their life had been more severely affected by COVID-19 than men did.

Respondents were asked: How much does COVID-19 affect you emotionally? e.g. does it make you angry, scared, upset or depressed? (On a scale from Not at all affected emotionally to Extremely affected emotionally)

• The older age group (60+ years) were less emotionally affected compared to the younger age groups.
• Women reported higher rates of emotionally affect than men did.
• Respondents in higher SEG reported being more emotionally affected by COVID-19 than respondents in the lower SEG.
• Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition reported being more emotionally affected by COVID-19 than respondents with no mental health condition.

Concerns about COVID-19

Respondents were asked: How concerned are you about COVID-19? (on a scale from Not concerned at all to Extremely concerned)

• Older adults (60+ years) were most concerned about COVID-19 followed by 30-59 year olds. Young adults (18-29 year olds) were least concerned about COVID-19.
• Women were more concerned about COVID-19 than men.
• Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition were more concerned about COVID-19 than those with no mental health condition.
• Respondents with a pre-existing physical health condition were more concerned about COVID-19 than those with no physical health condition.

Understanding of COVID-19

Respondents were asked: How well do you feel you understand COVID-19? (On a scale from Don't understand at all to Understand very clearly)

• Rates of reported understanding of COVID-19 increased with age, as older adults indicated higher scores than middle-aged adults, who, in turn, scored higher than younger adults.
• Women reported higher rates of feeling they had a clear understanding of COVID-19 than men did.
• Respondents in the higher SEG reported higher levels of understanding COVID-19 than respondents from the lower SEG.
• Most respondents indicated they were seeking information on COVID-19, 'less than once a day' (53.2%) or '1-5 times a day' (41.3%).

Control over COVID-19

Respondents were asked: How much control do you feel we have over COVID-19? (On a scale from Absolutely no control to Extreme amount of control)

• The middle age group (30-59 years) reported feeling higher levels of control over COVID-19 than either of the other age groups.
• More respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition reported feeling that they had lower control over COVID-19 than did those with no pre-existing mental health condition.

Willingness to contact GP for a non-COVID-19 related health concern

Respondents were asked: How willing would you be to contact your GP about a non-COVID-19 related health concern e.g. a new or changing symptom, if you felt you needed to right now? (On a scale from Not willing at all to Extremely willing)

• The following groups were less likely to contact their GP about a non-COVID-19 related symptom than the sample average:
• Young adults (aged 18-29 years)
• Respondents from the lower SEG
• Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition
• Respondents without a pre-existing physical condition