The Covid-19 pandemic as an accelerator of economic worries and labor-related mental health polarization in Germany? A longitudinal interacted mediation analysis with a difference-in-difference comparison.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Labor-related mental health polarization refers to exposure to low-paid employment and unemployment decreasing mental health. Previous research identified economic worries as a key mediator. Against this background, the Covid-19 pandemic is often assumed to have accelerated already existing processes and affected vulnerable populations the most. Our study sought to investigate whether the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the mediation by economic worries between employment type and mental health.

Method

Using the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP) from 2016 onwards, we created a pre-Covid-19 sample (N = 8266) and a per-Covid-19 sample (N = 7294), with each having a t₀ wave (2016/2018) and a t₁ wave (2018/2020). We applied the mediational g-formu

SUBMITTER: Demirer I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10393830 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature