Evolutions of Self-Rated Health and Social Interactions during the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected by Pre-Pandemic Conditions: Evidence from a Four-Wave Survey

Takashi Oshio (), Hiromi Kimura, Shingo Nakazawa and Susumu Kuwahara
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Takashi Oshio: Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo 186-8601, Japan
Hiromi Kimura: Survey Research Center, Tokyo 103-0027, Japan
Shingo Nakazawa: Japan Cabinet Office, Tokyo 100-8914, Japan
Susumu Kuwahara: Japan Cabinet Office, Tokyo 100-8914, Japan
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: 進 桑原

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-11

Abstract: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected individuals’ self-rated health (SRH) and social interactions, but their evolution during the pandemic needs further investigation. The present study addressed this issue using longitudinal data from 13,887 observations of 4177 individuals obtained from a four-wave nationwide, population-based survey conducted between January and February 2019 (before the pandemic) and November 2022. We compared the evolutions of SRH and social interactions during the pandemic between individuals who interacted with others before the pandemic and those who did not. Three noteworthy findings were obtained. First, deterioration in SRH in response to the declared state of emergency was concentrated on individuals with no pre-pandemic interaction with others. Second, SRH generally improved during the pandemic, although the improvement was more remarkable among previously isolated individuals. Third, the pandemic has promoted social interactions among previously isolated individuals and reduced such chances among those who previously interacted with others. These findings underscore the importance of pre-pandemic social interactions as key determinants of responding to pandemic-related shocks.

Keywords: adaptation; COVID-19; self-rated health; social interaction; state of emergency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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