Investigating the Relationship Between Social Policy, Financial Difficulty and Mental Health of Young Adults in the UK During the COVID-19 Pandemic: E

Economic and employment uncertainty has made a substantial impact on the lives of young adults in the United Kingdom over the course of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. Financial difficulty, social isolation and worsening employment opportunities have exacerbated already poor mental health among young adults. This project will investigate the relationship between social policy, financial difficulty, and the mental wellbeing of young adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Primarily it will use the Understanding Society dataset, which involves survey data obtained throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The aim of this project will be to examine the extent to which financial difficulty has had an impact on young adult's mental wellbeing, and the impact of financial or employment policies that supported people during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Universal Credit Scheme, Coronavirus Job retention scheme, Self-employment income support scheme). The result will be a creating a financial index, used to measure financial difficulty and the adverse impact it has on standard of living conditions.
Through this measure, we will be able to examine the adverse impacts of financial difficulty on mental wellbeing across the UK, and how much it varies by personal characteristics or geographical location. Differences in policy within UK devolved home nations will also be explored. Statistical methods will be used to identify the relationship between financial difficulty and mental health to predict the impact of social policy on mental health. The predictions made from this data will be used to inform future social policy and evaluate the effectiveness of policies in place during the pandemic. Social policies must provide effective support to the most adversely affected individuals within a population; therefore, policymakers must understand the relationship between financial difficulty, social policy, and ultimately mental health. Effective social policy can serve to improve public health and overall mental wellbeing. Recommendations based on this research will be made to policymakers and stakeholders during workshops and presentations to enable an understanding of how British (and its devolved) governments may improve existing social policies to improve the mental health of individuals undergoing financial difficulty.