This is the README file for the scripts of the preprint "Self-Perceived Loneliness and Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Two-Wave Replication Study" by Carollo et al. (2022)

Access the pre-print here: https://ucl.scienceopen.com/document/read?vid=0769d88b-e572-48eb-9a71-23ea1d32cecf

Abstract: Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced countries to impose strict lockdown restrictions and mandatory stay-at-home orders with varying impacts on individual’s health. Combining a data-driven machine learning paradigm and a statistical approach, our previous paper documented a U-shaped pattern in levels of self-perceived loneliness in both the UK and Greek populations during the first lockdown (17 April to 17 July 2020). The current paper aimed to test the robustness of these results by focusing on data from the first and second lockdown waves in the UK. Methods: We tested a) the impact of the chosen model on the identification of the most time-sensitive variable in the period spent in lockdown. Two new machine learning models - namely, support vector regressor (SVR) and multiple linear regressor (MLR) were adopted to identify the most time-sensitive variable in the UK dataset from wave 1 (n = 435). In the second part of the study, we tested b) whether the pattern of self-perceived loneliness found in the first UK national lockdown was generalizable to the second wave of UK lockdown (17 October 2020 to 31 January 2021). To do so, data from wave 2 of the UK lockdown (n = 263) was used to conduct a graphical and statistical inspection of the week-by-week distribution of self-perceived loneliness scores. Results: In both SVR and MLR models, depressive symptoms resulted to be the most time-sensitive variable during the lockdown period. Statistical analysis of depressive symptoms by week of lockdown resulted in a U-shaped pattern between week 3 to 7 of wave 1 of the UK national lockdown. Furthermore, despite the sample size by week in wave 2 was too small for having a meaningful statistical insight, a qualitative and descriptive approach was adopted and a graphical U-shaped distribution between week 3 and 9 of lockdown was observed. Conclusions: Consistent with past studies, study findings suggest that self-perceived loneliness and depressive symptoms may be two of the most relevant symptoms to address when imposing lockdown restrictions.

In particular, the folder includes the scripts for the pre-processing, training, and post-processing phases of the research.

==== PRE-PROCESSING WAVE 1 DATASET ==== - "01_preprocessingWave1.py": this file include the pre-processing of the variables of interest for wave 1 data; - "02_participantsexcludedWave1.py": this file include the script adopted to implement the exclusion criteria of the study for wave 1 data; - "03_countryselectionWave1.py": this file include the script to select the UK dataset for wave 1.

==== PRE-PROCESSING WAVE 2 DATASET ==== - "04_preprocessingWave1.py": this file include the pre-processing of the variables of interest for wave 2 data; - "05_participantsexcludedWave1.py": this file include the script adopted to implement the exclusion criteria of the study for wave 2 data; - "06_countryselectionWave1.py": this file include the script to select the UK dataset for wave 2.

==== TRAINING ==== - "07_MLR.py": this file includes the script to run the multiple regression model; - "08_SVM.py": this file includes the script to run the support vector regression model.

==== POST-PROCESSING: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ==== - "09_KruskalWallisTests.py": this file includes the script to run the multipair and the pairwise Kruskal-Wallis tests.

This is the full dataset of all tweets collected for the project "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Bordering Discourses Regarding Migration and Mobility in Europe". The dataset contains over 75 000. The codebook associated with the dataset can be found here: https://zenodo.org/record/6619705#.Y8-6l3bMKUk

Further inquiries can be adressed to Marie-Eve Bélanger (www.marie-eve-belanger-phd.com)

Summary of the research project:

This research project traces the evolution of migration and mobility control measures and their discursive justification in Europe as the global crisis provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic is unfolding. It is designed to show how multi-level decision-making structures and processes react to emergency situations, and how unforeseen systemic pressures disrupt political narratives about migration and mobility. Drawing on previous research on bordering discourses in Europe, we seek to identify the perturbing impact of an external shock, in this case the Covid-19 pandemic, on established discursive practices in national parliaments and among policy-makers regarding migration, mobility and border controls in Europe.

The European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) is a major European Union reference source for comparative statistics on health status, health determinants and use of health care services. It was planned that EHIS would be conducted once every five years.

The first wave of EHIS was launched under an informal agreement and implemented in 17 EU Member States and in Switzerland and Turkey between 2006 and 2009. The second wave of EHIS was completed under a European Parliament and Council regulation in all 28 EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Turkey between 2013 and 2015. The third wave of EHIS took place in 2019 and 2020 and was completed by all member sates in accordance with the European Parliament and Council regulation. The UK was required to complete EHIS Wave 3 as the UK was a member state in 2019. Users should note that the United Kingdom opted out of the first wave and did not take part, so UK EHIS data exists only from Wave 2 and Wave 3. This dataset contains only the UK responses.

Further information about the survey may be found on the European Commission European Health Interview Survey webpage.

Latest edition information
For the second edition (March 2022), data and documentation for Wave 3 were added to the study.

Key demographics, ventilation parameters, treatment and disease severity scores, by UK pandemic wave.

Cox proportional risk analysis for mortality of all intubated and ventilated patients across both UK waves of the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic.

Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

This release combines fourteen waves of Understanding Society data with harmonised data from all eighteen waves of the BHPS. As multi-topic studies, the purpose of Understanding Society and BHPS is to understand short- and long-term effects of social and economic change in the UK at the household and individual levels. The study has a strong emphasis on domains of family and social ties, employment, education, financial resources, and health. Understanding Society is an annual survey of each adult member of a nationally representative sample. The same individuals are re-interviewed in each wave approximately 12 months apart. When individuals move they are followed within the UK and anyone joining their households are also interviewed as long as they are living with them. The study has five sample components: the general population sample; a boost sample of ethnic minority group members; an immigrant and ethnic minority boost sample (from wave 6); participants from the BHPS; and a second general population boost sample added at this wave. In addition, there is the Understanding Society Innovation Panel (which is a separate standalone survey (see SN 6849)). The fieldwork period is for 24 months. Data collection uses computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and web interviews (from wave 7), and includes a telephone mop-up. From March 2020 (the end of wave 10 and the 2nd year of wave 11), due to the coronavirus pandemic, face-to-face interviews were suspended, and the survey was conducted by web and telephone only, but otherwise has continued as before. Face-to-face interviewing was resumed from April 2022. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 is invited to complete the individual adult interview and self-completed questionnaire. Parents are asked questions about their children under 10 years old. Youths aged 10 to 15 are asked to respond to a self-completion questionnaire. For the general and BHPS samples biomarker, genetic and epigenetic data are also available. The biomarker data, and summary genetics and epigenetic scores, are available via UKDS (see SN 7251); detailed genetics and epigenetics data are available by application (see below). In 2020-21 an additional frequent web survey was separately issued to sample members to capture data on the rapid changes in people’s lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see SN 8644). Participants are asked consent to link their data to wide-ranging administrative data sets (see below).

Further information may be found on the Understanding Society Main stage webpage and links to publications based on the study can be found on the Understanding Society Latest Research webpage.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

End User Licence, Special Licence and Secure Access versions:

There are three versions of the main Understanding Society data with different access conditions. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (this study), one is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 6931) and the third is a Secure Access version (SN 6676). The SL version contains month as well as year of birth variables, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables, various income variables that have not been top-coded, and other potentially sensitive variables (see 6931_eul_vs_sl_variable_differences document available with the SL version for full details of the differences). The Secure Access version, in addition to containing all the variables in the SL version, also contains day of birth as well as Grid Reference geographical variables. Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL and Secure Access versions of the data have more restrictive access conditions and prospective users of those versions should visit the catalogue entries for SN 6931 and SN 6676 respectively for further information.

Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers are also available subject to SL access conditions; see SNs 6666, 6668-6675, 7453-4, 7629-30, 7245, 7248-9 and 9169-9170. Schools data are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 7182. Higher Education establishments for Wave 5 are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 8578. Interviewer Characteristics data, also subject to SL access conditions is available in SN 8579. In addition, a fine detail geographic dataset (SN 6676) is available under more restrictive Secure Access conditions that contains National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed, derived from ONS Postcode Directories (ONSPD). For details on how to make an application for Secure Access dataset, please see the SN 6676 catalogue record.

How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from Understanding Society:

Information on how to access genetics and epigenetics data directly from the study team is available on the Understanding Society Accessing data webpage.

Linked administrative data

Linked Understanding Society / administrative data are available on a number of different platforms. See the Understanding Society Data linkage webpage for details of those currently available and how they can be accessed.

Latest edition information

For the 19th edition (November 2024) Wave 14 data has been added. Other minor changes and corrections have also been made to Waves 1-13. Please refer to the revisions document for full details.

m_hhresp and n_hhresp files updated, December 2024

In the previous release (19th edition, November 2024), there was an issue with household income estimates in m_hhresp and n_hhresp where a household resides in a new local authority (approx. 300 households in wave 14). The issue has been corrected and imputation models re-estimated and imputed values updated for the full sample. Imputed values will therefore change compared to the versions in the original release. The variable affected is n_ctband_dv.

Suitable data analysis software

These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain over 2,047 variables.

This dataset has been extracted as part of an exercise to assemble "all" Cefas Temperature Data and publish it in a Data paper. It is one of 17 Cefas data sources assembled. WaveNet, Defra's strategic wave monitoring network for the United Kingdom, provides a single source of real-time wave data from a network of wave buoys located in areas at risk from flooding. In operation since 2002, WaveNet collects and processes data from the Cefas-operated Datawell Directional Waverider buoys, tethered at strategic locations around the UK coastline. The WaveNet system also gathers wave data from a variety of third party platforms and programmes (industry and public sector-funded), all of which are freely available for visualisation on the WaveNet website: Significant wave hight in metres, Water temperature in degree Celsius, Dominant (peak) wave periods in seconds, Average (zero crossing) wave periods in second, Dominant (peak) wave directions in degrees, Wave spread in degrees, Notional sensor depth = 0.45m

Main results from the Wealth and Assets Survey incorporating results from the second wave of the survey.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Wealth and Assets Survey Wave 2

UKHLS COVID-19 waves C1-C4, the first COVID infection wave (N = 1,387 participants, n = 4,914 observations).

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The British Local Government Panel Survey, 1985-1986 is a panel study of attitudes and behaviour of local government electors. The survey consisted of two waves: the first wave carried out in 1985, sponsored by the Widdicombe Committee of Inquiry into the Conduct of Local Authority Business, and the second wave carried out in 1986 and sponsored by the ESRC. The first wave conducted a total 1,145 interviews. The second wave of the survey undertook to contact all of the 1,145 interviewees from the first wave. Of these, 745 interviews were obtained. For each of these 745 respondents, information from the first and second wave interviews plus the relevant contextual data were merged. It is this merged dataset that is held at the Data Archive.
Main Topics:

Attitudes towards local government and local democracy; voting.

UKHLS COVID-19 waves C5-C8, the second COVID infection wave (N = 1,390 participants, n = 4,493 observations).

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, schools in England closed their buildings to all but vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers on 20 March 2020, representing an unprecedented disruption to the education of children and young people. This project explores schools' responses to the Covid-19 emergency and the impact this is having on pupils and teachers. Data will be collected via two school surveys, each administered to the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) Teacher Voice panel, and all remaining publicly-funded mainstream primary and secondary schools in England. The survey is offered for completion by a senior leader and a number of teachers within each school. The first survey (Wave 1) was administered in schools between 7 and 17 May 2020. The second (Wave 2), focused on the challenges schools would face from September, and was administered between 8 and 15 July.

Further information and research findings may be found on the NFER Schools' responses to Covid-19 webpage.

Latest edition information
For the second edition (December 2020), data and documentation for Wave 2 were added to the study.

There were 667,479 deaths in the United Kingdom in 2021, compared with 689,629 in 2020. Between 2003 and 2011, the annual number of deaths in the UK fell from 612,085 to just over 552,232. Since 2011 however, the annual number of annual deaths in the United Kingdom has steadily grown, with the number recorded in 2020, the highest since 1918 when there were 715,246 deaths. Both of these spikes in the number of deaths can be attributed to infectious disease pandemics. The great influenza pandemic of 1918, which was at its height towards the end of World War One, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a large number of deaths in 2020.  Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic The weekly death figures for England and Wales highlight the tragic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. In two weeks in April of 2020, there were 22,351 and 21,997 deaths respectively, almost 12,000 excess deaths in each of those weeks. Although hospitals were the most common location of these deaths, a significant number of these deaths also took place in care homes, with 7,911 deaths taking place in care homes for the week ending April 24, 2020, far higher than usual. By the summer of 2020, the number of deaths in England and Wales reached more usual levels, before a second wave of excess deaths hit the country in early 2021. Although subsequent waves of COVID-19 cases resulted in far fewer deaths, the number of excess deaths remained elevated throughout 2022. Long-term life expectancy trends As of 2022 the life expectancy for men in the United Kingdom was 78.57, and almost 82.57 for women, compared with life expectancies of 75 for men and 80 for women in 2002. In historical terms, this is a major improvement in relation to the mid 18th century, when the overall life expectancy was just under 39 years. Between 2011 and 2017, improvements in life expectancy in the UK did start to decline, and have gone into reverse since 2018/20. Between 2020 and 2022 for example, life expectancy for men in the UK has fallen by over 37 weeks, and by almost 23 weeks for women, when compared with the previous year.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Opinions Survey (VOS) is a follow up to the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) (held at the UK Data Archive under SN 8635), and questions those specifically who reported hesitancy towards the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. The survey has been commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to identify changes in attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine, and the factors and interventions that may have influenced initially hesitant people's decision to get a vaccine.

Survey content for this study has been developed in consultation with DHSC, Cabinet Office and National Health Service (NHS) England. The survey was carried out using an online survey by the Office for National Statistics. The sample was based on 4,272 adults in England who took part in the OPN (over the period 13 January to 8 August 2021), specifically those who indicated hesitancy or uncertainty towards getting or who had refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine. These respondents had previously provided consent to be re-contacted for future research. The responding sample contained 2,482 individuals, representing a 58 per cent response rate. This is a one-off survey and currently there are no plans to carry out a second wave.

Between 1953 and 2021, the death rate of the United Kingdom fluctuated between a high of 12.2 deaths per 1,000 people in 1962 and a low of 8.7 in 2011. From 2011 onwards, the death rate creeped up slightly and, in 2020, reached 10.3 deaths per 1,000 people. In 2021, the most recent year provided here, the death rate was ten, a decline from 2020 but still higher than in almost every year in the twenty-first century. The recent spike in the death rate corresponds to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, with the first cases recorded in early 2020. Most deaths since 1918 in 2020 In 2020, there were 689,629 deaths in the United Kingdom, the highest in more than a century. Although there were fewer deaths in 2021, at 667,479, this was still far higher than in recent years. When looking at the weekly deaths in England and Wales for this time period, two periods stand out for reporting far more deaths than usual. The first period was between weeks 13 and 22 of 2020, which saw two weeks in late April report more than 20,000 deaths. Excess deaths for the week ending April 17, 2020, were 11,854, and 11,539 for the following week. Another wave of deaths occurred in January 2021, when there were more than 18,000 deaths per week between weeks three and five of that year. Improvements to life expectancy slowing Between 2020 and 2022, life expectancy in the United Kingdom was approximately 82.57 years for women and 78.57 years for men. Compared with life expectancy in 1980/82 this marked an increase of around six years for women and almost eight years for men. Despite these long-term developments, improvements to life expectancy have been slowing in recent years, and have declined since 2017/19. As of 2022, the country with the highest life expectancy in the World was Japan, which was 84.5 years, followed by South Korea, at 83.6 years.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The study was designed to investigate political change in Great Britain using a panel technique. The main areas of investigation were the party system, campaign issues, and social class. Information on the political background of the respondent as well as extensive demographic data were also collected. Semantic differential questions were also included.


Interviewing was conducted in four waves. The first wave was in 1963, the second wave followed the 1964 General Election, the third wave followed the 1966 General Election, and the fourth wave followed the 1970 General Election. This study contains fourteen overlapping samples. The 1963 wave constitutes a national cross-section sample. For 1964 and 1966 there are electorate samples. The other eleven samples are panels generated by the interviewing of respondents.

As a result of ESRC funding, this sub-series of the British Election Study has been rationalised, re-processed to the UKDA's A standard, linked to improved ICPSR documentation and had new user information created for it by the UKDA. Please see 44notes.xls and 44userguide.pdf for details.

From July-September 2020, we collected self-administered surveys from 499 health workers in 14 hospitals that were designated for the care and treatment of patients with COVID-19. The survey included sections on demographics, co-morbid health conditions, symptoms experienced during patient care, a depression, anxiety and stress assessment (DASS-21), and other related factors. We used logistic regression models to identify factors associated with depression, anxiety and stress, and adjusted for confounding factors.

Data are available in Stata format

Economic activity and mental distress in the complete-case sample.

This is the second (wave 2) in a series of follow up reports to the Mental Health and Young People Survey (MHCYP) 2017, exploring the mental health of children and young people in February/March 2021, during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes since 2017. Experiences of family life, education, and services during the COVID-19 pandemic are also examined. The sample for the Mental Health Survey for Children and Young People, 2021 (MHCYP 2021), wave 2 follow up was based on 3,667 children and young people who took part in the MHCYP 2017 survey, with both surveys also drawing on information collected from parents. Cross-sectional analyses are presented, addressing three primary aims: Aim 1: Comparing mental health between 2017 and 2021 – the likelihood of a mental disorder has been assessed against completion of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in both years in Topic 1 by various demographics. Aim 2: Describing life during the COVID-19 pandemic - Topic 2 examines the circumstances and experiences of children and young people in February/March 2021 and the preceding months, covering: COVID-19 infection and symptoms. Feelings about social media use. Family connectedness. Family functioning. Education, including missed days of schooling, access to resources, and support for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Changes in circumstances. How lockdown and restrictions have affected children and young people’s lives. Seeking help for mental health concerns. Aim 3: Present more detailed data on the mental health, circumstances and experiences of children and young people by ethnic group during the coronavirus pandemic (where sample sizes allow). The data is broken down by gender and age bands of 6 to 10 year olds and 11 to 16 year olds for all categories, and 17 to 22 years old for certain categories where a time series is available, as well as by whether a child is unlikely to have a mental health disorder, possibly has a mental health disorder and probably has a mental health disorder. This study was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, commissioned by NHS Digital, and carried out by the Office for National Statistics, the National Centre for Social Research, University of Cambridge and University of Exeter.