Professor Eugenio Proto from the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School and Professor Climent Quintana-Domeque of University of Exeter Business School have used nationally collected data to compare the mental health impact of lockdown on different ethnic groups. 

The found that BAME men experienced a much greater deterioration in their mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown than their white British counterparts, but ethnicity had no impact on women’s declining mental health.

The study used data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study of 14,289 people who were interviewed both in 2017-19 and April 2020.

Using a 12-question General Health Questionnaire, which creates an aggregate score for participants’ mental health, BAME men reported a 14% deterioration in their mental health from 2017-19 to April 2020, but for white British males the deterioration was smaller, at 6.5%.

Women also struggled with their mental health during lockdown, experiencing a similar drop-off in their mental health to BAME men, but ethnicity was not found to have played a significant role.

See more and access the paper on the Adam Smith Business School website

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