State-Level Paid Sick Leave Policies and Population Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Financial hardship was pervasive during the COVID-19 pandemic, with adverse consequences for mental health. However, access to state-level paid sick leave during the pandemic had the potential to reduce the mental health burden of financial hardship-a possibility that has not been tested in prior research. Using nationally representative survey data on more than 1.7 million individuals from the Household Pulse Survey (August 2020 to November 2022) merged with state-level data on paid sick leave policies, we estimated a battery of two-way fixed-effects linear probability models to examine whether paid leave policies buffered the association between financial hardship and depression and anxiety risks. Results show that experiencing financial hardship increased depression and anxiety risks bu

SUBMITTER: Donnelly R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12360710 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature