Abstract:
This paper examines the dynamics of mental health for a sample of Irish women before, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Using longitudinal data from the Infant cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) survey we analyse changes in the CES-D8 scale and transitions across the critical threshold associated with depressive symptoms. We find an increase in the fraction of women with depressive symptoms following the onset of Covid, but by the end of the pandemic approximately two thirds of those women had returned to not having such symptoms. Transitions across the key threshold in both directions is most pronounced for those with low education. Statistical associations are also found for those who experience parental stress and those whose mental health was fragile pre-Covid.
