Exploring the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Health-Related Behaviours: A Person-Centred Analysis of Two British Longitudinal Cohort Studies

Abstract

AbstractThe current study explored the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health-related behaviours in the United Kingdom. We conducted a repeated measures latent class analysis with five indicators of health-related behaviours; frequency of alcohol consumption, binge drinking, smoking, BMI and sleep, to identify distinct subgroups of individuals with similar patterns of change across three timepoints during the first 9 months of the pandemic. We hypothesised that various psychosocial risk factors, such as a history of adverse childhood experiences would predict membership in latent classes with a higher probability of engaging in risky health behaviours, and that protective factors, like social support, would be associated with membership in classes with less risky health behaviours. We identified 5 latent classes, and multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed multiple predictors of class membership. Our findings did not support the relationship between poor mental health and the adoption of risky health behaviours.