Personality traits and mental health outcomes: the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on young adults in the UK

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  • Resum

    Mental health outcomes significantly deteriorated in the United Kingdom as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for younger individuals. This paper uses data from the Millennium Cohort Study to investigate the heterogeneity of mental health effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on adolescents by both personality types and personality traits. Using two-step cluster analysis we find three robust personality clusters: resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled. We find that resilient individuals, who generally have better mental health, reported larger decreases in mental health during the pandemic than both undercontrollers and overcontrollers. The effect seems to be driven by the neuroticism trait, such that those with higher neuroticism scores fared better than those with lower scores during the pandemic. Our findings highlight that personality traits are important factors in identifying stress-prone individuals during a pandemic.
    La salud mental se deterioró en el Reino Unido durante la pandemia del Covid-19, especialmente entre los más jóvenes. Usamos el Millennium Cohort Study e investigamos los efectos de la pandemia entre los adolescentes, centrándonos en la heterogeneidad por tipos y por rasgos de personalidad. Usando un método de agrupación en dos pasos, identificamos tres tipos de personalidad: resilientes, sobre-controlados y sub-controlados. Encontramos que las personas resilientes, quienes en general tienen una mejor salud mental, experimentaron una mayor deterioración de su salud mental. Esto se debe al rasgo de personalidad neocriticismo. Subrayamos la importancia de la personalidad para identificar las personas propensas al estrés durante una pandemia.

  • Descripció

    Treball fi de màster de: Master's Degree in Specialized Economic Analysis: Economics of Public Policy. Curs 2020-2021
    Directors: Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Hannes Mueller

  • Col·leccions

    Master's Degree in Specialized Economic Analysis
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