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

Wave 3 findings (data collected between 1 October and 4 November 2020) indicate that young adults, women, people with physical and/or mental health conditions, and people in a lower socio-economic group are more likely to report experiencing poor mental health.


2. Sample and Respondent Characteristics

The Wave 3 sample has been weighted to be representative of the Scottish population in terms of age, sex and SEG factors, as detailed in Table 2.1. For consistency, the weighting methodology is identical to that employed in the previous two waves, which is based on the quotas for the Wave 1 sample (Annex 2) and the UK-wide COVID-MH study. The Wave 3 sample has been weighted to match the adjusted Wave 1 (2500 participants), which was representative of the Scottish population.

Table 2.1 displays the unweighted and weighted sample characteristics for those who took part in all waves of the study, and are therefore included in the longitudinal analysis. A breakdown of the demographic subgroups for the Wave 3 cross-sectional analysis is included in Table 1.3. As reported in the previous section, several of the demographic groups were underrepresented in the respondent sample, and therefore in this report the weighted sample is used in all analysis.

Table 2.1: Weighted and unweighted demographics of sample completing all waves
Characteristic Weighted* (n=2500) % Unweighted (n=1703) %
Sex assigned at birth
Men 50.1% 52.0%
Women 49.9% 48.0%
Age
18-29 years 20.0% 6.0%
30-59 years 47.7% 50.8%
60+ years 32.3% 43.2%
Ethnicity
White 97.9% 97.9%
Asian 1.2% 1.1%
Black 0.0% 0.0%
Mixed 0.6% 0.6%
Other/prefer not to say 0.2% 0.3%
Relationship status
Married/living with partner 60.3% 64.5%
Single 27.4% 21.7%
Separated/ divorced/widowed 11.7% 13.2%
Other/prefer not to say 0.6% 0.5%
Sexuality
Heterosexual 91.6% 92.5%
Gay or bisexual 7.6% 6.6%
Other/prefer not to say 0.8% 0.9%
Highest Qualification
No Qualifications 15.7% 6.2%
Secondary school education 35.2% 33.3%
HNC/D or Degree/ other 49.1% 60.6%
Key worker role 21.2% 18.0%
Unpaid caring responsibilities 14.8% 16.5%
Socioeconomic group (SEG)a
High 64.6% 68.5%
Low 35.4% 31.5%
Housing tenure
Own (including mortgage) 64.0% 72.1%
Private rent 14.0% 10.7%
Council rent 17.5% 14.1%
Other 4.5% 3.1%
Property type
House 71.6% 75.0%
Apartment or flat in block 25.3% 23.8%
Shared house/ Student Halls 1.9% 0.2%
Residential home 0.7% 0.6%
Other 0.6% 0.5%

Note:*data are weighted to more accurately reflect the Scottish population. a SEG measure categories AB-C1-C2-DE. Higher SEG (i.e., top-half): AB = Higher & intermediate managerial, administrative, professional occupations, C1 = Supervisory, clerical & junior managerial, administrative, professional occupations. Lower SEG (i.e., bottom-half): C2 = Skilled manual occupations, DE = Semi-skilled & unskilled manual occupations, unemployed and lowest grade occupations. (ONS, 2001).

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

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