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Publication - Research and analysis

Public attitudes to Coronavirus: November update

Published
20 November 2020
Directorate
Constitution Directorate
Topic
Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland
ISBN
9781800043084

This report includes some high level findings from recent polling work on public attitudes to the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

3. Wellbeing 

Levels of loneliness, anxiety and happiness

The Coronavirus pandemic is having a wide range of impacts on personal wellbeing. This section presents polling data about the impacts of Coronavirus and the pandemic response on feelings such as happiness, loneliness, optimism and anxiety.

To understand social isolation, respondents were asked how much of the time during the past week they had felt lonely. As shown in Figure 14, the proportion who felt lonely all, almost all, or most of the time increased between September to mid-October. Around one third of people experienced loneliness some of the time in the past week, and this has remained stable during September and October. This means that the proportion of respondents who experienced loneliness at least some of the time in the past week increased, from 46% in early September to 52% in late October.

Figure 14: How often respondents felt lonely during the past week
‘Some of the time’ remains 31%-34%, while ‘none of the time’ decreases to 45%, and ‘all of the time’ increases to 18%

Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1000-1018)

The survey included two of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) wellbeing questions[7] to measure levels of anxiety and happiness. Respondents were asked how anxious and how happy they felt ‘yesterday’, on a scale of 0 to 10. As shown in Figure 15, anxiety levels have remained stable and relatively high during September and October, with around two fifths reporting high anxiety.

Figure 15: How anxious respondents felt yesterday on a scale of 0-10
These remain stable, with very low 17%-18%, low 22%-24%, medium 20%-23%, and high 36%-39%

Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1000-1018)

As shown in Figure 16, the majority of respondents reported high or very high levels of happiness (score of 7-10), although the proportion reporting high levels fell slightly between early September and late October. Around one in five felt low levels of happiness (score of 0-4), which has been stable since May.[8]

Figure 16: How happy respondents felt yesterday on a scale of 0-10
These remain stable, with very high 12%-14%, high 39%-44%, medium 24%-28%, and low 18%-20%

Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1000-1018)

Coping, worries and optimism

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statements shown below. As shown in Figure 17, over two thirds agreed that they feel like they are coping okay during the Coronavirus situation, however just under four in ten agreed that they are worried about the effect of the latest restrictions on their mental health. 

Figure 17: Proportion who agreed/agreed strongly to the statements shown
Those who agreed they feel like they are coping is 71% and after stays between 66%-67% after

Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1000-1018)

The proportion who agreed that they are worried about the Coronavirus situation has remained high and stable in September and October, however the proportion who strongly agreed has increased since the beginning of September.

Figure 18: Proportion who agreed/agreed strongly with the statement ‘I feel worried about the Coronavirus situation’
Those who strongly agreed increases from 17% to 25% in the latest wave, although total worry has not varied

Chart description

Bar chart with nine bars. Each bar shows the proportion who strongly agreed or agreed with the statement. The proportion of those who strongly agree within this increases from 17% to 25% in the latest wave, although total worry has not varied.

Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1000-1053)

Levels of optimism decreased in the first week of September. Since then the proportion who agreed with this statement that they are sure that things will start to get better soon has remained around one fifth. Levels of optimism during September and October were lower than at the beginning of the March lockdown.[9]

Figure 19: Proportion who agreed/agreed strongly with the statement ‘I’m sure that things will start to get better soon’
Those who strongly agreed remain at 3%-4%, but the proportion who disagreed is fluctuates between 15%-23%

Source: YouGov weekly Scotland survey. Base (n=1000-1053)

Contact

Email: covid-19.behaviours@gov.scot

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