Life-Course Inequalities in Mental Health at the Intersection of Gender and Socioeconomic Position and the Role of the Cost-of-Living Crisis: Evidence from the 1958 and 1970 British Birth Cohorts

Darío Moreno-Agostino, UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Vanessa Moulton, UCL
Sam Parsons, UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Bozena Wielgoszewska, UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Jayati Das-Munshi, ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, King's College London
George Ploubidis, UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies

There is a lack of longitudinal evidence to understand the role of the so-called ‘cost-of-living crisis’ in population mental health, particularly as social inequalities, high rates of poverty, and declining mental health trajectories predate this period. We will use data from two British birth cohorts: the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), with repeated measures of mental health (9-item Malaise Inventory) prospectively collected across 42 (age 23-65) and 27 years (age 26-53), respectively. First, we will use growth curve modelling to understand how long-term mental ill-health trajectories have changed by gender, early life socioeconomic position, and the intersection of both, throughout the life-course and including the recent period of sharp cost-of-living increases. Then, we will use robust Poisson regression models to analyse the relationship between the cost-of-living increase and mental ill-health, and whether this relationship varies by gender, socioeconomic position, and the intersection of these two. Results will provide timely and robust life-course evidence on gender and socioeconomic inequalities in the mental health of two different generations. It will compare the more acute impacts of an economically challenging period with the more ensuing, ingrained life-course impact of sexism and classism and their intersection.

Keywords: Longitudinal studies , Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

See extended abstract.