Young People’s Subjective Wellbeing in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Representative Cohort Study in England

The COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption it has caused had substantial short-term effects on young people. These effects have been found to be highly unequal, exacerbating existing inequalities in society, including those associated with socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity. But, just as importantly, it is believed that they continue to cast a long shadow over some young people’s lives. In this paper we use data from the COVID Social Mobility & Opportunities study (COSMO) — a representative cohort study of over 13,000 young people in England aged 14–15 at pandemic onset whose education and post-16 transitions were acutely affected by the pandemic’s disruption through their remaining education and subsequent transitions — to highlight inequalities in young people’s subjective wellbeing and mental health in the wake of the pandemic. We document the substantial differences in subjective wellbeing — especially highlighting differences by gender — after adjusting for other demographic characteristics, self-reported levels of social support, and experience of adverse life events. We estimate how wellbeing differs by young people’s own perceptions of the ongoing impact of the pandemic: those who indicate an ongoing negative impact in their lives have substantially lower subjective wellbeing scores. Finally, we find a link between adverse life experiences during the pandemic and lower post-pandemic wellbeing, but do not find evidence that this is mediated by demographic characteristics or social support.