Abstract
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantial disruptions to the daily lives of young people. Yet knowledge is lacking about changes in mental well-being among young adults, whether those from ethnic minorities were more adversely impacted by the pandemic than the ethnic majority, and the extent to which pandemic-related stressors contributed to any declines in mental well-being.MethodsWe draw on nationally representative German CILS4COVID data, collected early in the pandemic (N = 3517, Mage = 25). Respondents provided information on mental well-being (psychosomatic complaints, anxiety, depression, life satisfaction) and exposure to pandemic-related stressors (financial worries, health worries, discrimination, contact with COVID-19). Responses on mental well-being were matched to responses from two pre-pandemic waves. Individual fixed effects regressions examined ethnic group differences in changes in mental well-being prior to, and at the early stage of, the pandemic. Path analysis tested the role of pandemic-related stressors in declines in mental well-being.ResultsOverall, young adults’ mental well-being had improved at the pandemic assessment compared to pre-pandemic assessments, and few ethnic group differences in changes were found. However, greater pandemic-related stressors were associated with worsened mental well-being at the pandemic assessment. Among Asian minorities, indirect effects were found on anxiety via health worries, and on depression via health worries and discrimination. For Turkish, Middle Eastern and African minorities, indirect effects on anxiety and depression were found via health worries.ConclusionsWe did not find widespread declines in mental well-being among young adults at the early stage of the pandemic, and changes in mental well-being prior to and at the early stage of the pandemic were mostly similar across ethnic German and minority groups. Nevertheless, pandemic-related stressors posed risks for young adults’ mental well-being, particularly increased discrimination and health worries among Asian minorities, and health worries among Turkish, Middle Eastern and African minorities.
Highlights
There are concerns about the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people’s mental wellbeing, those in already vulnerable populations
But not financial worries, were found among young adults with an Asian background. It appears that individuals from minority groups are more likely to have experienced pandemic-related stressors of ethnic discrimination, exposure to COVID-19, and worries than individuals from ethnic majorities. As each of these risk factors are associated with poorer mental health [8, 28, 29, 40], greater declines in mental well-being among young adults from ethnic minorities compared to the ethnic majority could be expected
Life satisfaction remained stable, psychosomatic complaints, anxiety and depression had decreased. These improvements in mental well-being at the pandemic assessment followed a trend of worsening anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction prior to the pandemic
Summary
There are concerns about the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people’s mental wellbeing, those in already vulnerable populations. Immigrant and ethnic minority communities bore a disproportionate brunt of the pandemic’s health, social and economic burdens [27, 36], which may present additional challenges to the mental well-being of young adults in these groups. There is a lack of empirical evidence on changes in young adults’ mental well-being prior to and after the onset of the pandemic, and how or why changes may have differed between young adults from ethnic minority and majority groups. Such evidence is required to inform strategies to assist young adults in emerging from the pandemic successfully and to minimise exacerbating existing inequalities. Knowledge is lacking about changes in mental well-being among young adults, whether those from ethnic minorities were more adversely impacted by the pandemic than the ethnic majority, and the extent to which pandemic-related stressors contributed to any declines in mental well-being
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