Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to the physical health of populations across the globe. However, the experience of a global pandemic and the restrictions implemented to contain the spread of the virus may have a widespread collateral impact on individual mental health and wellbeing as well. Certain groups, such as older adults, immigrants, those in precarious employment situations and with poor prior physical and mental health, are likely to face stronger mental health declines due to vulnerabilities that may be exacerbated during or because of the pandemic. In particular, we consider potential heterogeneous effects of COVID pandemic by candidate vulnerability factors, namely: gender, age, childcare responsibilities, employment status, economic worries, housing conditions, pandemic related factors (changes in childcare or working conditions), migration status, and pre-COVID physical and mental health risks. Empirically, we rely on representative longitudinal survey data that has been collected since the beginning of the pandemic to examine the development of mental health of more than 8,000 individuals in Germany before and during the pandemic.