| dc.description.abstract | This thesis contains a systematic literature review exploring mental health and wellbeing (MHW) determinants identified among young adults from high-income, western countries prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic search strategy identified seven eligible studies exploring associations between exposure variables and mental health and/ or wellbeing among 18–25-year-olds between 2010 and 2021.
A narrative synthesis was used to collate the findings of these papers. Five themes emerged among 23 MHW determinants; 1. Lifestyle
factors, 2. Psychological factors, 3. Interpersonal factors, 4. Economic factors, 5. Recent negative life events.
The empirical paper within this thesis explored differences in Subjective Wellbeing (SWB), Flourishing, Loneliness, and Psychological Distress among 384 UK adults aged 18-25, 26-59 and
60-80 following the abolishment of legal COVID-19 restrictions as well as among data collected from 18-25- and 60–80-year-olds at various time points in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was compared to pre-pandemic figures and data
collected by Carson et al (2020) in March 2020.
As predicted, following the abolishment of legal COVID-19 restrictions, 18–25-year-olds reported significantly lower levels of SWB, and higher levels of
Loneliness and Psychological Distress, than 26-59- and 60–80-year-olds. Additionally, 18-25 years olds reported significantly lower levels of SWB and
Flourishing compared to pre-pandemic data. As predicted, 18–25-year-olds demonstrated significant differences, indicative of improvements, on most
psychological measures across the 2020 and 2022/23 samples. However, contrary to predictions, differences in Flourishing, Loneliness, and Psychological Distress were either not significant for 60–80-year-olds or smaller than those observed for 18–25-year-olds.
Both the systematic literature review and empirical paper offer important clinical implications as well as suggestions to improve the research field. | en_GB |
