Date:
Emotional and mental wellbeing struggles continue
During the festive season, similar proportions of people struggle with their mental health compared to late November. Specifically, as of the fourth week in December 2020:
- Over half (54%) of the adult UK population have felt anxious or worried in the previous two weeks because of the pandemic
- Women (63%), full-time students (66%), people who are unemployed (60%), and those who have a pre-existing mental health condition (69%) were population groups who appeared to be feeling more anxious or worried too
- Almost a quarter of people (23%) reported feeling lonely in the previous two weeks
- Feelings of loneliness were higher in younger people, too, with 37% and 31% of people aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 34, respectively, which has been consistently higher across all waves than the general population
- Loneliness levels were also higher in people who are unemployed (35%), full-time students (39%), single parents (30%), and people with a pre-existing mental health condition (36%)
- Like Wave 8 (late November), seeing family freely (26%) or seeing friends freely (15%) were highlighted as ways that would help alleviate people’s feelings of loneliness
- Just over one in five (22%) of the UK adult population reported feeling hopeless and over half (54%) reported feeling frustrated in the last two weeks
People are resilient but the longer the pandemic goes on, the more this resilience is tested
Generally, 63% of people feel that they are coping with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-related stress very well or fairly well. However, there has been a slow decline in people coping with the COVID-19 restrictions and the impact this has on their mental health. Specifically, as of late December:
- Of those who reported not coping with this stress well (19% overall), those who have a pre-existing mental health condition(s) or full-time students were less likely to be coping very well or not at all well (35% and 34%, respectively) as are those who are unemployed (29%)
- Half (50%) of UK adults reported that they feel worried about being able to cope with the uncertainty of the pandemic
- Whilst a quarter (26%) were worried about being able to cope with self-isolation
What is helping people cope with the stress of the pandemic
- For 53% of the adult UK population, going for a walk outside helped them cope with the stress of the pandemic in the last two weeks. This has been the top method of coping throughout the study’s nine waves
- Being able to visit green spaces helped 40% of the population
- Contacting family (44%) and friends (40%) also helped people cope with the stress of the pandemic
- Contacting friends was the top coping method for people aged 18 to 24 (43%), which corresponds with our adolescent study, where contacting friends had been the most popular coping method for stress across the two waves
- Contacting friends was also the top coping method for full-time students (48%).
- Contacting family (61%) was the top coping method for those over 70 years old, followed by going for a walk (60%)
- Limiting exposure to COVID-19 news and maintaining a healthy lifestyle (e.g. balanced diet, enough sleep, exercise etc.) were also cited as popular coping methods to cope with the stress of COVID-19
- However, these coping methods were less popular than in late November. For instance, in this wave, 27% stated limiting exposure to COVID-19 news helped them cope compared to 40% in Wave 8 and 29% in this wave said maintaining a healthy lifestyle helped them cope compared to 44% in Wave 8
However, less helpful coping strategies have risen since late November. Specifically, as of December
- 22% of the population said they were drinking more alcohol to cope with the pandemic's stress in the last two weeks. This is compared to 18% in Wave 8
- The amount who stated they had eaten too much as a way of coping with the stress of the pandemic had risen slightly in this wave to 36%
- Those who stated they had more often eaten too little as a way of coping was the same as in Wave 8 at 10% of respondents
People are worried and concerned
The UK population continues to feel uncertain, concerned and feelings of worry are rife:
- Over half (54%) are worried about becoming ill with COVID-19, and almost two-thirds (64%) are worried about passing on COVID-19 if they become sick with the virus
- Nearly half (46%) are worried about the mental health of their child(ren) and how the pandemic is impacting this.
- Three in ten (29%) are worried about making their own existing mental health difficulties worse
- A quarter (25%) are worried about looking after their child(ren) in case they get sick
- Three in ten (29%) have financial concerns
- Over half (57%) are worried about being separated from their family and friends
People anticipate a negative long-term impact of the pandemic on their future and the future of others
Feelings of uncertainty about the future have risen since late November.
Specifically, as of December:
- Over half (56%) of UK adults think that their future is going to be worse as a result of the pandemic
- Two-thirds (66%) of UK adults think that the future of others their age is going to be worse as a result of the pandemic
- Please refer to the graphs below to explore the trends of how adults feel about the future from Wave 8 to this wave
- The proportion of adults who think that their future will be worse is higher for people aged 18 to 24 (61%), those with pre-existing mental health conditions (62%) and full-time students (67%)
Suicidal thoughts
- The proportion of people who had experienced suicidal thoughts or feelings in the previous two weeks had slightly decreased from Wave 8 to Wave 9 from 13% to 12%
- Please refer to the graph below to explore the trend of people experiencing suicidal ideation from Wave 2 to this wave
- Figures were highest for people with a pre-existing mental health condition (30%), unemployed people (26%), people aged 18 to 24 (22%) and full-time students (22%)
- 8% who said they experienced these thoughts said they experienced them once or more a day or more often
- 7% of people aged 18 to 24 reported that they had deliberately hurt themselves, which was a slight decrease from the earlier Wave 8, but still three times greater than across all UK adults (2%)
- Full-time students (73%) and those with pre-existing mental health conditions (70%) were the most worried about the future of others of a similar age to them