IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2021i1p124-d709382.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental Distress during the Coronavirus Pandemic in Israel: Who Are the Most Vulnerable?

Author

Listed:
  • Tehila Refaeli

    (The Charlotte Jack Spitzer Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel)

  • Michal Krumer-Nevo

    (The Charlotte Jack Spitzer Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel)

Abstract

Based on Pearlin’s stress process model and the social inequality approach to health, this study used a social lens to explore the role of socioeconomic inequities in mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. Specifically, we examined people’s pre-pandemic sociodemographic characteristics and economic situation, and the economic effects of the pandemic itself on mental distress. A real-time survey was conducted in May 2020 among 273 adults (ages 20–68), and hierarchical linear models were employed. Findings indicated that groups vulnerable to mental distress in routine times (e.g., women, people with economic difficulties) showed the same pattern during the pandemic. Not only was unemployment related to mental distress, so too was a reduction in work hours. The pandemic’s economic effects (e.g., needing to take out loans, having a worsening financial situation) were also associated with increased mental distress. This study is one of very few studies to explore a wide range of socioeconomic factors and their association with mental distress during the current crisis. The findings call for broader interventions to alleviate the economic distress caused by the pandemic to promote mental health, especially for groups that were vulnerable before the crisis and those most affected economically following the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Tehila Refaeli & Michal Krumer-Nevo, 2021. "Mental Distress during the Coronavirus Pandemic in Israel: Who Are the Most Vulnerable?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:124-:d:709382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/124/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/124/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yiwen Zhang & Junfeng Jiang, 2019. "Social Capital and Health in China: Evidence from the Chinese General Social Survey 2010," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 411-430, February.
    2. Amory Martin & Maryia Markhvida & Stéphane Hallegatte & Brian Walsh, 2020. "Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Household Consumption and Poverty," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 453-479, October.
    3. Gemma Wright & David Neves & Phakama Ntshongwana & Michael Noble, 2015. "Social assistance and dignity: South African women's experiences of the child support grant," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 443-457, July.
    4. Anja Bauer & Enzo Weber, 2021. "COVID-19: how much unemployment was caused by the shutdown in Germany?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(12), pages 1053-1058, July.
    5. Leonard I. Pearlin, 2010. "The Life Course and the Stress Process: Some Conceptual Comparisons," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 65(2), pages 207-215.
    6. Darin-Mattsson, Alexander & Andel, Ross & Celeste, Roger Keller & Kåreholt, Ingemar, 2018. "Linking financial hardship throughout the life-course with psychological distress in old age: Sensitive period, accumulation of risks, and chain of risks hypotheses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 111-119.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hugo S. Gonçalves & Sérgio Moro, 2023. "On the economic impacts of COVID‐19: A text mining literature analysis," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 375-394, February.
    2. Cyrille Kossigan Kokou-Kpolou & Daniel Derivois & Cécile Rousseau & Oléa Balayulu-Makila & Saba Hajizadeh & Jean-Pierre Birangui & Mireille Guerrier & Jacqueline Bukaka & Jude Mary Cénat, 2022. "Enacted Ebola Stigma and Health-related Quality of Life in Post Ebola Epidemic: A Psychosocial Mediation Framework Through Social Support, Self-Efficacy, and Coping," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2809-2832, October.
    3. Brum, Matias & De Rosa, Mauricio, 2021. "Too little but not too late: nowcasting poverty and cash transfers’ incidence during COVID-19’s crisis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Matías Brum & Mauricio de Rosa, 2020. "Too little but not too late. Nowcasting poverty and cash transfers' incidence in Uruguay during COVID-19's crisis," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 20-09, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    5. Yanzhe Zhang & Bowen Zou & Huai Zhang & Jian Zhang, 2022. "Empirical Research on Male Preference in China: A Result of Gender Imbalance in the Seventh Population Census," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Oliver Fiala & Enrique Delamónica & Gerardo Escaroz & Ismael Cid Martinez & José Espinoza-Delgado & Aristide Kielem, 2021. "Children in Monetary Poor Households: Baseline and COVID-19 Impact for 2020 and 2021," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 161-176, July.
    7. Hamid Noghanibehambari & Farzaneh Noghani, 2023. "Long‐run intergenerational health benefits of women empowerment: Evidence from suffrage movements in the US," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(11), pages 2583-2631, November.
    8. Margherita, Alessandro & Elia, Gianluca & Klein, Mark, 2021. "Managing the COVID-19 emergency: A coordination framework to enhance response practices and actions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    9. Yothin Jinjarak & Ilan Noy & Quy Ta, 2022. "Pandemics and Economic Growth: Evidence from the 1968 H3N2 Influenza," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 73-93, March.
    10. Yin LiuPhD & Jooyoung KongPhD & Lauren R BangerterPhD & Steven H ZaritPhD & David M AlmeidaPhD, 2018. "Early Parental Abuse and Daily Assistance to Aging Parents With Disability: Associations With the Middle-Aged Adults’ Daily Well-being," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(5), pages 59-68.
    11. De, Prabal K. & Thamarapani, Dhanushka, 2022. "Impacts of negative shocks on wellbeing and aspirations – Evidence from an earthquake," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    12. Thomas Gries & Wim Naudé, 2021. "Extreme Events, Entrepreneurial Start-Ups, and Innovation: Theoretical Conjectures," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 329-353, October.
    13. Uma Warrier & Monoo John & Surendranath Warrier, 2021. "Leveraging Emotional Intelligence Competencies for Sustainable Development of Higher Education Institutions in the New Normal," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 10(1), pages 62-73, March.
    14. Eric T Klopack & Jessica Kelley, 2023. "Chronic Stress and Latent Virus Reactivation: Effects on Immune Aging, Chronic Disease Morbidity, and Mortality," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 78(10), pages 1707-1716.
    15. Felix Roth & Lars Jonung & Aisada Most, 2024. "COVID-19 and public support for the Euro," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 61-86, February.
    16. Anna Doś & Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala & Joanna Błach, 2022. "The Effect of Business Legal Form on the Perception of COVID-19-Related Disruptions by Households Running a Business," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    17. Arceo-Gomez, Eva O. & Campos-Vazquez, Raymundo M. & Esquivel, Gerardo & Alcaraz, Eduardo & Martinez, Luis A. & Lopez, Norma G., 2023. "The impact of COVID-19 infection on labor outcomes of Mexican formal workers," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    18. Serra, Laura & Silva, José I. & Vall-llosera, Laura, 2022. "The unemployment effects of closing non-essential activities during the COVID-19 lockdown: The Spanish municipalities," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 806-819.
    19. Kazumi Tsuchiya & Cindy W. Leung & Andrew D. Jones & Cleopatra H. Caldwell, 2020. "Multiple financial stressors and serious psychological distress among adults in the USA," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(3), pages 335-344, April.
    20. Zhongsheng Wu & Angela Bies, 2021. "Volunteering and Self-Rated Health in Urban China: New Evidence from Analyses of Treatment-Effects Models," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(5), pages 2185-2201, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:124-:d:709382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.