Gender Differences in Anxiety and Depression during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2023.4.2364Keywords:
gender, gender differences, mental health, anxiety, depression, pandemic, coronavirus, COVID-19, crisis, dynamics of anxiety, dynamics of depressionAbstract
The article reveals the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on gender differences in anxiety and depression. The empirical dataset is the panel data on Russia from the international research project "Values in Crisis" (ViC), conducted in June 2020, April — May 2021, and November — December 2021. The study found that women were more likely to experience anxiety and depression than men during the pandemic, which comes in line with a trend seen in many countries. No significant change was found in these differences between the three waves of the survey. The absence of the changes or of the interactive effect between gender and factors associated with the pandemic (if a person or his/her close people experienced coronavirus symptoms, job loss, the need to provide care for children, etc.) can be explained by the fact that gender differences in mental health in Russia should be seen as pre-existed rather than as consequences of the pandemic. At the same time, the factors of anxiety and depression differ in men and women. Job loss increases anxiety only in men. Moving to part-time work increases anxiety and depression in both men and women, but the effect for women is stronger. Age decreases female anxiety and depression in both subsamples. The study confirms the need to consider gender differences in mental health in order to develop effective social policy measures in crisis situations.
Acknowledgments. The article was prepared in the framework of a research grant funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant ID: 075-15-2022-325).
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