Scottish COVID-19 Mental Health Tracker Study: Wave 3 Report

Key Findings

Suicidal thoughts

Wave 3 findings:

• Overall, one tenth (9.9%) of respondents reported suicidal thoughts within the week prior to completing the Wave 3 questionnaire.
• Young adults (18-29 years) reported the highest rates of suicidal thoughts within that week (19.3%), higher than those aged 30-59 years (10.6%) and 60+ years (2.4%).
• There were no statistically significant differences between men and women in rates of suicidal thoughts reported.
• Those with pre-existing mental health conditions were more likely to report suicidal thoughts (26.8%) in the week prior to completing the questionnaire than those without pre-existing mental health conditions (7.8%).
• Individuals from the lower SEG were more likely to report suicidal thoughts in the week prior to responding to the Wave 3 questionnaire compared to those in the higher SEG (12.4% vs. 8.5%).

Changes across the waves:

• For the overall sample, there was an increase in the proportion of respondents reporting suicidal thoughts from Wave 1 (7.3%) to Wave 2 (14.9%), and then a decrease in the proportion who reported suicidal thoughts at Wave 3 (9.4%).
• There was a reduction in rates of suicidal thoughts from Wave 2 to Wave 3 for women aged 30-59 years (Wave 2 = 13.9%; Wave 3 = 11.7%) and for women aged 60+ years (Wave 2 = 2.3%; Wave 3 = 0.8%).
• There was a reduction in rates of suicidal thoughts from Wave 2 to Wave 3 for men aged 30-59 years (Wave 2 = 14.0%; Wave 3 = 9.2%) and a reduction for men aged 60+ years (Wave 2 = 5.1%; Wave 3 = 3.9%).
• The rate of those with a pre-existing mental health condition reporting suicidal thoughts decreased from 42.9% in Wave 2 to 38.3% in Wave 3, although these rates are still an overall increase from Wave 1 (20.5%).
• The proportion of respondents in the lower SEG reporting suicidal thoughts decreased from Wave 2 (21.8%) to Wave 3 (12.5%).

Depressive symptoms^[2]

Wave 3 findings:

• A fifth (21.4%) of the sample met the cut-off for moderate to severe depressive symptoms, which indicates a need for treatment.
• Women (24.9%) were more likely to report depressive symptoms than men (17.8%).
• Young adults (18-29 years) were more likely to report depressive symptoms (37.7%) than those aged 30-59 years (20.6%) and 60+ years (10.7%).
• Individuals with a pre-existing mental health condition (62.5%) were more likely to report depressive symptoms compared to those without a pre-existing mental health condition (15.2%).
• Respondents with a pre-existing physical health condition (27.6%) were more likely to report depressive symptoms compared to those without a pre-existing physical health condition (20.0%).
• Higher rates of depressive symptoms were reported by those from the lower SEG (25.8%) compared to those from higher SEG (18.9%).

Changes across the waves:

• Rates of moderate to severe depressive symptoms (indicating a need for treatment) did not change statistically from Wave 2 (22.0%) to Wave 3 (21.4%), although rates at both Wave 2 and Wave 3 were higher than at Wave 1 (18.6%).
• Rates of depressive symptoms for 30-59 year old men decreased from Wave 2 (18.5%) to Wave 3 (15.0%), and for the 60+ year old men (Wave 2 = 12.9%; Wave 3 = 9.2%).
• Respondents with a physical health condition reported a decrease in rates of depressive symptoms from Wave 2 (34.4%) to Wave 3 (29.3%).
• Those with a pre-existing mental health condition reported higher rates of depressive symptoms at Wave 2 (62.7%) and Wave 3 (66.6%) compared to Wave 1 (53.0%).
• A higher proportion of the lower SEG reported depressive symptoms at Wave 2 (26.8%) and Wave 3 (25.7%) compared to Wave 1 (20.2%).

Anxiety symptoms^[3]

Wave 3 findings:

• Just over one sixth (16.2%) of respondents met the cut-off for moderate to severe anxiety symptoms, which indicates a possible need for treatment.
• Women (19.2%) reported higher rates of anxiety symptoms than men (12.9%).
• 18-29 year olds (28.0%) were more likely to report anxiety symptoms than 30-59 year olds (15.5%), and 60+ year olds (8.4%).
• Individuals with a pre-existing mental health condition (52.4%) reported higher rates of anxiety symptoms than those without a pre-existing mental health condition (10.6%).
• Those from the lower SEG (19.7%) were more likely to report anxiety symptoms than those from the higher SEG (14.0%).
• Respondents with a pre-existing physical health condition were more likely to report anxiety symptoms (20.6%) than those without a pre-existing physical health condition (15.1%).

Changes across the waves:

• There were no statistically significant changes in rates of moderate to severe anxiety symptoms from Wave 2 (14.9%) to Wave 3 (14.7%), although both were higher than Wave 1 (13.0%).
• Those with a pre-existing mental health condition reported an increase in rates of anxiety symptoms from Wave 1 (45.7%) to Wave 2 (51.1%) to Wave 3 (54.5%).
• The lower SEG reported an increase in rates of anxiety symptoms from Wave 1 (14.5%) to Wave 3 (20.1%), although there were no significant changes from Wave 2 (21.3%) to Wave 3.

General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)^[4]

Wave 3 findings:

• Just under a third (32.0%) of the sample met the cut-off for a high GHQ-12 score, which indicates psychological distress and a possible psychiatric disorder.
• A greater proportion of women met the cut-off for a high GHQ-12 score than men (36.6% vs. 27.0%).
• Almost half of 18-29 year olds (49.4%) reported high GHQ-12 scores compared to 31.9% of 30-59 year olds and 19.2% of 60+ year olds.
• Over two thirds of respondents who had a pre-existing mental health condition (67.4%) reported high GHQ-12 scores compared to a quarter (26.6%) of respondents who did not have a pre-existing mental health condition.
• Respondents from the lower SEG were more likely to report a high GHQ-12 score (36.0%) than those from the higher SEG (29.6%).
• Individuals with a pre-existing physical health condition (37.7%) were more likely to report a high GHQ-12 score than those without a pre-existing physical health condition (30.6%).

Changes across the waves:

• The proportion of respondents who met the cut-off for a high GHQ-12 score increased from Wave 2 (24.8%) to Wave 3 (27.8%).
• The rate of men aged 30-59 years reporting high GHQ-12 scores increased from Wave 2 (24.4%) to Wave 3 (27.0%), and the proportion of men aged 60+ reporting high GHQ-12 scores also increased from Wave 2 (15.4%) to Wave 3 (18.2%).
• The proportion of respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition reporting high GHQ-12 scores increased from Wave 2 (50.2%) to Wave 3 (65.6%).

Mental wellbeing^[5]

Wave 3 findings:

• The average score for mental wellbeing in the current sample was 21.28, out of a maximum of 35.
• Men had higher mental wellbeing scores (21.77) than women (21.26).
• Respondents in the older age group (60+ years old) scored higher on mental wellbeing (23.34) than those aged 30-59 years (21.19) and compared to young adults (18-29 years) who scored the lowest (19.67).
• Respondents in the higher SEG scored higher (21.96) on the mental wellbeing scale than those in the lower SEG (20.70).
• Respondents who indicated having no pre-existing mental health conditions scored higher on the mental wellbeing scale (22.16) than those with a pre-existing mental health condition (17.14).
• Individuals with no physical health condition had a higher wellbeing score (21.63) than those with a physical health condition (20.96).

Changes across the waves:

• There were no statistically significant changes in average mental wellbeing for the whole sample over the waves (Wave 1: 21.96, Wave 2: 21.94 and Wave 3: 21.94).
• There was a decrease in mental wellbeing for older men (60+ years) from Wave 1 (23.88) to Wave 2 (23.28).
• Respondents from the lower SEG had an overall increase in mental wellbeing scores from Wave 1 (20.38) to Wave 3 (20.81), although there was no significant change for this subgroup from Wave 2 (20.79).
• Levels of mental wellbeing also increased for those with a pre-existing mental health condition from Wave 1 (15.91) to Wave 3 (16.91), although their level of mental wellbeing did not change significantly from Wave 2 (16.85).

Loneliness^[6] and Social Support^[7]

Wave 3 findings:

• The average mean score for loneliness for the whole sample at Wave 3 was 5.18 out of a maximum of 9, and the average score for levels of social support was 14.49 out of a maximum of 20.
• Women reported being lonelier (5.06) than men (4.70), although there were no significant differences in levels of social support between men (14.59) and women (14.38).
• Young adults (18-29 years) had higher levels of loneliness (5.50), compared to 30-59 year olds (4.92) and 60+ year olds (4.40).
• In contrast, young adults (18-29 years) reported the highest levels of social support (16.18), with 30-59 year olds reporting the lowest levels (13.97) followed by individuals aged 60+ years (14.86).
• Respondents in the lower SEG reported higher average loneliness scores (5.18) than those in the higher SEG (4.73). Individuals in the higher SEG reported more social support (15.01) than those in the lower SEG (13.37).
• People with a pre-existing physical health condition reported experiencing higher loneliness (5.22) than those with no pre-existing physical health condition (4.82), although there was no difference in their levels of social support.
• Individuals with a pre-existing mental health condition reported much higher loneliness during Wave 3 (6.09) compared to those with no pre-existing mental health conditions (4.71).
• Respondents with no pre-existing mental health conditions reported higher levels of social support (11.62) compared to those with a pre-existing mental health condition (7.12).

Changes across the waves:

• For the whole sample, feelings of loneliness increased from Wave 2 (4.59) to Wave 3 (4.73), although levels of loneliness remained lower than at Wave 1 (4.86).
• For the whole sample, social support average scores increased from Wave 2 (14.40) to Wave 3 (14.69).
• Women aged 60+ had the largest increase in levels of loneliness from Wave 2 (4.32) to Wave 3 (4.61), although women aged 30-59 years also increased (Wave 2 = 4.93; Wave 3 = 5.10).
• Those who had a pre-existing mental health condition reported that their loneliness increased from Wave 2 (5.66) to Wave 3 (6.19).

Distress^[8] and life satisfaction^[9]

Wave 3 findings:

• For the overall sample the average level of distress was 2.71, out of a maximum of 10, which suggests mild levels of distress.
• Women reported higher levels of distress (3.15) than men (2.24).
• Young adults (18-29 year olds) reported the highest levels of distress (3.86), followed by 30-59 year olds (2.78), and the lowest levels of distress were reported by the 60+ group (1.76).
• Of all the subgroups analysed, the highest average level of distress was seen in those with a pre-existing mental health condition (4.80), which was higher than those with no pre-existing mental health condition (2.40).
• The average mean life satisfaction for the sample was 6.21 (out of 10).
• Men reported higher life satisfaction (6.32) than women (6.12).
• Young adults (18-29 year olds) and 30-59 year olds reported the same mean life satisfaction score (5.95), which was lower than the 60+ year old group (6.80).
• Respondents in the higher SEG reported higher mean life satisfaction scores (6.41) than those in the lower SEG (5.86).
• People without a pre-existing physical health condition reported experiencing higher life satisfaction (6.33) than those with a pre-existing physical health condition (5.69).
• Individuals with no pre-existing mental health condition reported higher life satisfaction during Wave 3 (6.51) compared to those with a pre-existing mental health condition (4.24).

Changes across the waves:

• For the whole sample, the average level of distress increased from Wave 2 (2.54) to Wave 3 (2.76).
• For respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition, distress increased from Wave 2 (4.52) to Wave 3 (4.92).
• For the overall sample, levels of life satisfaction decreased from Wave 2 (6.14) to Wave 3 (5.98).
• Women aged 30-59 years reported a decrease in life satisfaction from Wave 2 (6.15) to Wave 3 (5.87), and women aged 60+ years also reported a decrease in life satisfaction from Wave 2 (7.04) to Wave 3 (6.86).
• For older men (60+ year old) there was also a decrease from Wave 2 (6.96) to Wave 3 (6.72).