Psychological Distress and Life Satisfaction of Working People Due to Their Changed Economic Status During the Lockdown

Abstract

During the restriction period of the Covid 19 outbreak, India has suffered significant economic losses. The psychological and social effects of this are well established. As a result of their affected economic status, this study aims to determine to what extent working people have been affected by psychological distress and in terms of life satisfaction in lockdown because of their jobs and businesses. To test the hypothesis that people having business have more psychological distress and less satisfaction in life with an affected economy than people having jobs, an online survey was distributed based on DASS 21 and LISAT 11 to potential working people based across India. Two groups of respondents were surveyed. The first group is (People having jobs vs People having businesses) and the second group is (People with affected economic status vs non-affected economic status). Responses were analyzed using a multivariate test, MANOVA. The results showed a small effect in the opposite direction than hypothesized: people having business have the same level of psychological distress and comparatively higher life satisfaction than people having jobs with affected economic status. These results suggest that type of work doesn’t determine the mental and social health of a person but their economic status does. On this basis, the concept of the economy should be considered when designing a psycho-socio model.