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. 2024 Jan 20;14(1):1790.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-51854-6.

Residential mobility restrictions and adverse mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK

Ho Fai Chan  1   2   3 , Zhiming Cheng  4   5 , Silvia Mendolia  6 , Alfredo R Paloyo  7 , Massimiliano Tani  8 , Damon Proulx  9 , David A Savage  9 , Benno Torgler  10   11   12   9   13
Affiliations

Residential mobility restrictions and adverse mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK

Ho Fai Chan et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several governments tried to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, with lockdowns that prohibited leaving one's residence unless carrying out a few essential services. We investigate the relationship between limitations to mobility and mental health in the UK during the first year and a half of the pandemic using a unique combination of high-frequency mobility data from Google and monthly longitudinal data collected through the Understanding Society survey. We find a strong and statistically robust correlation between mobility data and mental health survey data and show that increased residential stationarity is associated with the deterioration of mental wellbeing even when regional COVID-19 prevalence and lockdown stringency are controlled for. The relationship is heterogeneous, as higher levels of distress are seen in young, healthy people living alone; and in women, especially if they have young children.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mental health (GHQ Caseness score) across UK regions over time.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mental health and mobility. Correlation between mobility and GHQ measures (GHQ Likert, GHQ Caseness) are monthly averages (9-wave) for each UK region. Marker colours represent the nine COVID-19 survey waves—earlier waves appear in green and later waves appear in purple. Shaded areas represent 95% confidence intervals of the linear fit.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between GHQ Caseness score and mobility within region. Mental health (GHQ) is averaged over each survey wave for each UK region. Markers with darker colour represent later waves. Shaded areas represent 95% confidence intervals of the linear fit.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mental health across different groups over time. Individual GHQ Caseness scores are averaged within groups across the nine waves of the COVID-19 Understanding Society.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Heterogenous effect of lockdown on mental health across (A) gender, (B) age, (C) education, and (D) marital status groups. Estimated heterogenous effect of lockdown on mental health across groups were obtained from regression results in Table 2. Error bars (C) and shared area (A and D) represent 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Heterogenous effect of lockdown on mental health across (A) homeownership and living area, (B) employment status during COVID-19, (C) long-standing illness or impairment, (D) pre-existing mental health issue groups. Estimated heterogenous effect of lockdown on mental health across groups were obtained from regression results in Table 3. Error bars (in panels a and b) and shared area (panel c) represent 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Three-way interactions of mobility, gender, and age group (A) and mobility, sex, and having a child aged 5–15 in the household (B). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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