Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed

Marco Caliendo, Daniel Graeber, Alexander Kritikos and Johannes Seebauer
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Johannes Seebauer: DIW Berlin

No 15260, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people's mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these differences. In addition, we find larger mental health responses among self-employed women who were directly affected by government-imposed restrictions and bore an increased childcare burden due to school and daycare closures. We also find that self-employed individuals who are more resilient coped better with the crisis.

Keywords: self-employment; PHQ-4 score; representative longitudinal survey data; mental health; resilience; gender; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 I14 I18 J16 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 68 pages
Date: 2022-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-eur and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published in: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice , 2023, 47(3), 788–830

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Related works:
Journal Article: Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed (2023)
Working Paper: Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed (2022)
Working Paper: Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed (2022)
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