Young adults in pandemic financial hardship: implications of the social determinants of mental health

ABSTRACT

Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. young adults aged 18–29-year-old, this study investigated the relationship between COVID-induced financial hardship and depression (N = 1080). About 40% of the sample had one or more financial hardships, a quarter reported depressive symptoms. The positive association between financial hardship and depression was cumulative: Those who had four different hardships were almost five times more likely to report depressive symptoms than those reported no hardship. Findings highlight the need to include financial stressors in mental health assessment and suggest a comprehensive policy response to mental health crisis among young adults.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• financial hardship
• mental health
• social determinants of health
• young adults

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Compliance with ethical standards

The authors acknowledge the project is in full compliance with ethical standards. There is no potential conflicts of interest. This project is a secondary data analysis that doesn’t involve human participants or animals.

Additional information

Funding

No funding received for this manuscript project.