One third of UK women are suffering from lockdown loneliness
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Significantly more women than men are experiencing problems with their mental health as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
New research by Lisa Spantig and Ben Etheridge, economists at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, suggests it is because women are more adversely affected by social isolation during lockdown.
The study reveals that the proportion of people who are reporting that they are experiencing at least one severe underlying mental health problem has increased among both genders. Among men it has risen from 7% of men before the pandemic to 18% after its onset. But for women, it has risen from 11% to 27%.
Studies in the US and the UK have previously charted a decline in wellbeing among men and women during lockdown. Until now, economic factors have been cited as the chief reasons why more women say that their mental health has been affected by the pandemic than men.
Other possible factors include the effects that restrictions on exercise and greater demands involving childcare and domestic work have had on women.
But Etheridge said the new research showed that the biggest factor appeared to be the strain Covid-19 was placing on social relationships. “Women are more likely to report multiple numbers of close friends,” he said. The ban, until recently, on meeting people outside your own household has led to a “decline in mental wellbeing”.
