Using Disaggregated and Latent Variable Analysis to Investigate the Role of Socioeconomic Factors in Concerns and Expectations Related to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Chile
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Date
2022
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a complex set of psychosocial effects, such as anxiety, depression, financial loss, burnout, and fear of infection. We study the role of socioeconomic factors in the concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the expectations of social changes on a post-pandemic future. The analysis is performed by collecting 22 indicators from a sample of 4,395 adults in Chile. The analysis is performed first by descriptive statistics, then by fusing the indictors into three latent variables, and finally by modelling each indicator as a separate choice. We find that lower-income people are significantly more worried about a range of financial and health issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, including concerns about being infected by the virus, losing their job and not being able to pay debts. The concern about facing a large economic crisis is significantly larger in the extremes, i.e., for low- and high-income groups. Age, gender, having a university degree, the possibility of working from home, and the general health status also influence the fears related to the COVID-19 pandemic. From a policy point of view, we conclude that strong policy interventions are necessary to reduce the uneven negative effects of COVID-19 in society, including material and mental health problems. From a methodological point of view, our results show that, while using a latent variable approach allows disentangling the main drivers of the phenomenon, rich content may be omitted when a disaggregated analysis is neglected, therefore both approaches are complementary.
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Social effects, Gender effects, Healthcare, Social security, Coronavirus