Abstract
The current study examines changes in the economic, social, and well-being life events that women and men reported during the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses compared monthly averages in cross-sectional national probability data from two annual waves of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study collected between October 2018–September 2019 (N = 17,924), and October 2019–September 2020 (N = 41,653), which included the first 7 months of the pandemic (Mar–Sep 2020). Results indicated that people (particularly women) reported increased job loss in the months following an initial COVID-19 lockdown relative to the same months the year earlier. Women also experienced an increase in family troubles when restrictions eased and reported increased negative lifestyle changes that persisted throughout the first 7 months of the pandemic. The proportion of people experiencing many other life events (e.g., mental health, financial concerns) in New Zealand did not differ reliably from the pre-pandemic monthly baseline. These results highlight resilience to many potential negative life events within the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic did not affect everyone equally, and the burden of increased negative events appears more heavily borne by women. As the pandemic continues more than 18 months from initial community transmission of COVID-19, our findings provide important insight into the impact of the pandemic on potential negative life events, especially among women, that may have critical consequences for mental health, gender equality, and social well-being over time.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of daily living (Gruber et al, 2020)
The current study examined changes in reports of economic, social, and well-being life events among women and men during the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the year prior to the pandemic
The current study examined changes in reported economic, social, and well-being life events among women and men during the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (Mar– Sep 2020) compared to the same months in the year preceding the pandemic
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of daily living (Gruber et al, 2020). In New Zealand, a series of national lockdowns contained the emergence of COVID-19 in the community during the first year of the pandemic (New Zealand Government, 2020). The initial mandatory lockdown required people to stay home except for essential movement, creating widespread challenges to economic, social, and personal well-being Published data reflects these challenges by revealing that many people have faced a range of economic, social, and well-being life events during the pandemic (e.g., Jean-Baptiste et al, 2020). Extant research currently lacks both prospective data from before the pandemic as well as data beyond the initial few months of the pandemic. We expand upon cross-sectional studies conducted within
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