Moderation of the association between COVID-19-related income loss and depression by receipt of financial support: Repeated cross-sectional surveys of young adults in Canada and France (2020-2021)

Pierre-Julien Coulaud; Travis Salway; Julie Jesson; Naseeb Bolduc; Olivier Ferlatte; Karine Bertrand; Annabel Desgrées du Loû; Emily Jenkins; Marie Jauffret-Roustide; Rod Knight

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101340

Moderation of the association between COVID-19-related income loss and depression by receipt of financial support: Repeated cross-sectional surveys of young adults in Canada and France (2020-2021)

SSM Popul Health. 2023 Mar:21:101340. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101340. Epub 2023 Jan 11.

Authors

Pierre-Julien Coulaud^{1

2}, Travis Salway^{3

4

5}, Julie Jesson³, Naseeb Bolduc^{1

6}, Olivier Ferlatte^{7

8}, Karine Bertrand⁹, Annabel Desgrées du Loû¹⁰, Emily Jenkins¹¹, Marie Jauffret-Roustide^{1

12

13}, Rod Knight^{1

2

5

7}

Affiliations

¹ British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
² Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
³ Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
⁴ British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁵ Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁶ School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁷ École de Santé Publique de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁸ Centre de Recherche en Santé Publique, Université de Montréal et CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Longueuil, Québec, Canada.
¹⁰ Centre Population et Développement, Université Paris Cité, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Inserm, Paris, France.
¹¹ School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
¹² Centre d'Étude des Mouvements Sociaux (EHESS/CNRS UMR8044/INSERM U1276), Paris, France.
¹³ Baldy Center on Law and Social Policy, Buffalo University, NY, USA.

Abstract

Background: To mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial resources, governments and family/friends mobilized financial support interventions (e.g., emergency aid funds) and assistance. However, little is known about how financial assistance alleviated mental health problems. This study aimed to investigate the moderating effect of financial support from the government or from family/friends on the association between income loss and depression among young adults.

Methods: Two online cross-sectional surveys among young adults ages 18-29 living in Canada and France were conducted in 2020 (n = 4,511) and 2021 (n = 3,329). Moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (cut-off score: ≥10). Two logistic regression models were performed for each survey with an interaction term between income loss and financial support (government or family/friends modeled separately), controlling for demographics.

Results: Overall, half reported depressive symptoms (2020/2021: 53.5%/45.6%), and over a third lost income (2020/2021: 10.2%/11.6% all income, 37.7%/21.6% some income). In 2020, 40.6% received government financial support (17.7% in 2021) while family/friends support was received by 12% (in both surveys). In both surveys, among those who received governmental financial support, income loss was associated with depression, whether participants lost all their income (e.g., 2020: Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) 1.75, 95% Confidence Interval [1.29-2.44]), or some of their income (e.g., 2020: AOR 1.45 [1.17-1.81]). However, among those who received family/friends financial support, income loss was no longer significantly associated with depression in both cycles, whether participants lost all their income (e.g., 2020: AOR 1.37 [0.78-2.40]), or some of their income (e.g., 2020: AOR 1.31 [0.86-1.99]).

Conclusions: Association between income loss and depression was moderated by receipt of family/friends financial support but not by receipt of government financial support. Financial support interventions may help to mitigate the negative effects of income loss on young adults mental health during periods of economic crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19; Depression; Financial support; Young adults.