Publication type
Understanding Society Working Paper Series
Series Number
2023-12
Series
Understanding Society Working Paper Series
Authors
Publication date
August 30, 2023
Abstract:
Established researchers and analysts were invited to take part in a health challenge research springboard using Understanding Society data. 29 attended in person for the first of the three contact days to explore four topic areas of interest: (1) Young people and health (2) Work and Health (3) Money, Finance and health (4) Disability and health. Eight teams formed around these topics, which on the third and final day presented their results to a policy panel of experts who offered feedback and suggestions for how to develop further outputs targeted at influencing policy. The high-level findings of the eight teams were: (1) There was a large benefit observed in terms of people’s mental health from not being behind with bills or not being under financial strain (2) Poor mental health is associated with worse financial outcomes; and possibly with subsequent job loss and increased likelihood of experiencing material deprivation (3) Disabled people were observed to be retained in work at lower rates than non-disabled people, which was most pronounced among those who had been working in the accommodation and food sectors (4) No single measure of economic precarity uniformly predicted all aspects of health but subjective job insecurity was significantly associated with poor mental health (5) The team looking at young people, place and health identified which subjective experiences of a range of local services were observed to be ‘protective’ of economic inequalities (6) A U-shaped relationship was observed for reported loneliness and age, with levels high for those aged over 55 years but highest among those aged 16 to 19 (7) A U-shaped cohort relationship was identified for reported disability, with the oldest cohort (born pre-1936) and youngest cohort (born since 1996) having higher rates of reported disability (8) Austerity policies were found to be significantly associated with a decrease in mental health for young people in Scotland, the South East, London, and the North East.
Subjects
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