The gendered effects of the Covid-19 crisis in South Africa: Evidence from NIDS-CRAM waves 1–5

Casale, Daniela; Shepherd, Debra

doi:10.1080/0376835x.2022.2036105

Cited by 33 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…During this period, universities were closed for all in-person classes and activities, and all staff and students were required to work from home. We sought the experiences of women in particular as research has shown that, in South Africa, the role of childcare, homecare and care for parents typically falls to women ( Hatch and Posel, 2018 ; Casale and Shepherd, 2020 ). We therefore argue that women provide a far richer and deeper understanding of changes to the psychological contract.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women academics and the changing psychological contract during COVID-19 lockdown

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the psychological contract between academics and their institutions during a time of great stress—the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that relationships between these parties have been found to be deteriorating prior to the pandemic, we believed it pertinent to explore how environmental changes brought about through lockdown conditions may have shifted the academic-institution relationship. Through a qualitative research design, our data is from 2029 women academics across 26 institutions of higher learning in South Africa. The major shifts in the psychological contract were found to be workload and pressure, provision of resources, top-down communication, as well as trust and support. Whilst these shifts altered the transactional and interactional nature of the psychological contract, violation, rather than breach, occurred since the emotional responses of participants point to incongruence or misalignment of expectations between academics and their institutions during this time of crisis. We offer recommendations for rebuilding trust and negotiating the psychological contract to re-engage academics in the institution.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women academics and the changing psychological contract during COVID-19 lockdown

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some studies have focused on indicators of material/financial well-being. For example, research has shown that employment in the country declined by almost 20% between February and April 2020 ( Casale & Posel, 2020 ). There was a similar decrease in the percentage of adults who earned an income during the stringent period of lockdown compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic ( Statistics South Africa, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flourishing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study in South Africa

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this longitudinal study, we examine changes in psychological distress and multidimensional well-being from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic among South African adults. As a secondary purpose, we explore whether pre-pandemic flourishing is protective against subsequent psychological distress during the public health crisis. The analytic sample ( n = 293; Mage = 44.27, SD = 14.28; female = 65.19%) completed measures of anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and well-being shortly before the stringent nationwide lockdown started in South Africa (T1). A follow-up assessment was completed approximately 6 months later (T2). Paired samples t-tests supported very small improvements in anxiety ( d = −0.09) and depression symptoms ( d = −0.13). For domains of well-being, small increases were found in close social relationships ( d = 0.25) and financial and material stability ( d = 0.19). Positive changes in the domains of character and virtue ( d = 0.10) and meaning and purpose ( d = 0.07) were very small. Changes in physical and mental health ( d = −0.03) and life satisfaction and happiness ( d = 0.02) were more negligible. Results from the generalized linear models indicated that continuous scores of secure flourishing assessed before the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with lower subsequent psychological distress (particularly depression symptoms) during the public health crisis. We discuss the implications of the findings for the development and delivery of interventions to promote and sustain human flourishing during public health crises, especially in contexts of social-structural vulnerability.

show abstract

“…3 Available literature suggests that the pandemic's impact on job and income loss varies by gender, race, and nature of employment (Spaull et al, 2020). It has also been shown that the poor, women and informal workers are disproportionately affected (Casale & Shepherd, 2020;Oyenubi, 2021;Rogan & Skinner, 2020). In terms of the impact of the pandemic on health, those who live in poorer households are more likely to report poor health in 2020 compared to 2017 (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Socioeconomic status mediate the relationship between income loss and depression scores? Evidence from South Africa

Oyenubi

Kollamparambil

2022

Curr Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in mediating the effect of job and household income loss on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We note that even though job loss will invariably reduce household income, the relationship between these factors and mental health may be mediated by SES. Specifically, in the context of COVID-19 induced shock, job loss may not be a threat to survival for an individual with relatively high SES, while this is not the case for individuals with low SES. Our empirical analysis uses threshold regression under the assumption that the relationship between depressive symptoms and pandemic induced job/ income loss has a threshold effect. We find that job loss (but not the decline in household income) is a stronger predictor of poor mental health for individuals that live in households above a certain SES threshold. This suggests that the psychological trauma of job loss due to loss of identity and purpose outweighs the financial loss for individuals with higher SES. On the other hand, a decrease in household income (as against the loss of individual income) is a stronger predictor of poor mental health for individuals with lower SES. We argue that these findings are related to high-income inequality in South Africa. The results highlight the different implications of job loss and income loss for depressive symptoms in the context of high socioeconomic inequality.

show abstract

The gendered effects of the Covid-19 crisis in South Africa: Evidence from NIDS-CRAM waves 1–5

Cited by 33 publications

References 14 publications

Women academics and the changing psychological contract during COVID-19 lockdown

Women academics and the changing psychological contract during COVID-19 lockdown

Flourishing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study in South Africa

Does Socioeconomic status mediate the relationship between income loss and depression scores? Evidence from South Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About