DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1c59zw3t0
title: Data for: Psychological distress, anxiety, suicidality, and wellbeing in New Zealand during the COVID-19 lockdown: a cross-sectional study

description: Dataset for following paper. Introduction New Zealand’s early response to
 the novel coronavirus pandemic included a strict lockdown which eliminated
 community transmission of COVID-19. However, this success was not without
 cost, both economic and social.  In our study, we examined the
 psychological wellbeing of New Zealanders during the COVID-19 lockdown
 when restrictions reduced social contact, limited recreation
 opportunities, and resulted in job losses and financial insecurity.
 Methods We conducted an online panel survey of a demographically
 representative sample of 2010 adult New Zealanders. The survey contained
 three standardised measures – the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale
 (K10), the GAD-7, and the Well-Being Index (WHO-5) – as well as questions
 designed specifically to measure family violence, suicidal ideation, and
 alcohol consumption. It also included items assessing positive aspects of
 the lockdown. Results Thirty percent of respondents reported moderate to
 severe psychological distress (K10), 16% moderate to high levels of
 anxiety, and 39% low wellbeing; well above baseline measures. Poorer
 outcomes were seen among young people and those who had lost jobs or had
 less work, those with poor health status, and who had past diagnoses of
 mental illness. Suicidal ideation was reported by 6%, with 2% reporting
 making plans for suicide and 2% reporting suicide attempts. Suicidality
 was highest in those aged 18–34. Just under 10% of participants had
 directly experienced some form of family harm over the lockdown period.
 However, not all consequences of the lockdown were negative, with 64%
 reporting ‘silver linings’, which included enjoying working from home,
 spending more time with family, and a quieter, less polluted environment.
 Conclusions New Zealand’s lockdown successfully eliminated COVID-19 from
 the community, but our results show this achievement brought a significant
 psychological toll. Although much of the debate about lockdown measures
 has focused on their economic effects, our findings emphasise the need to
 pay equal attention to their effects on psychological wellbeing.
description: Methods of data collection are in the published paper
 (open-access). 
 <strong>Briefly:</strong>
 Respondents were survey participants from an internet Panel
 survey firm. Data have been cleaned and processed: this
 was mostly simplifying/collapsing response options to fewer options for
 reporting.
description: For further details or analysis code for paper (R format) please
 contact james.stanley@otago.ac.nz. Data and data
 dictionaries are included in the uploaded files. A
 total of n=2010 participants included (meeting eligibility criteria and
 substantively completed the survey) Post-stratification
 survey weights are included (used to re-scale collected data to the NZ
 population structure): it is recommended that these are used in analyses
 (R, SAS, SPSS and Stata have mechanisms for applying survey
 weights). Data were originally collected in Qualtrics;
 cleaned and coded in R; and analysed using R. The
 "raw + clean" dataset provides both the original variables and
 the variables as analysed for the paper. Columns with names starting with
 "Q" are the original responses in the survey; columns
 marked The "clean only" dataset provides just
 the variables analysed for the paper. Some additional
 variables are available on request (with corresponding code) for data
 sensitivity (e.g. suicidality) or to reduce the complexity of the files
 (e.g. individual item responses on psychological scales). These are
 detailed below. <b>Sensitive data available
 only on request</b> Due to low response counts, data
 on self-harm thoughts and behaviours are not available in this public
 dataset but can be requested by contacting the team. <b>Additional raw data and
 code available on request</b> The following items are only
 presented in a summarised format: Original per-item responses can be
 requested by contacting the team. These have not been included for
 brevity. <strong>Age in years
 </strong>(excluded for data confidentiality) <b>Age
 group </b>(some people were only asked a "screening"
 question on age group for response quotas, others also provided age at end
 of survey) <b>Gender </b>(some
 people were only asked a "screening" question on gender for
 response quotas, others also confirmed gender at end of survey)
 <b>Ethnicity</b>
 (prioritised ethnicity included in file; original recorded ethnicity
 columns and free text fields available on request along with code for
 scoring) <b>K10/GAD-7/WHO-5</b> (scores and categorised variables included; original per-item responses available on request with code for scoring) <b>Alcohol intake before/during lockdown</b> (summarised data included: original free-text columns and recoding step available on request with code for scoring) <b>Family harm questions</b> (summarised data included; individual response items available on request)