Is there a dose-response relationship? Investigating the functional form between COVID-19 incidence rates and life satisfaction in a multilevel framework

Abstract

While there is plenty of research linking the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic to a drastic reduction of life satisfaction in the population, there is little information on the functional form of this relationship. Until now, one could suspect that this association is linear and a higher number of COVID-19 infections in a region leads to a continuous decline of satisfaction. However, there are reasons to assume that this interrelation is indeed more complex and deserves further attention. To resolve this question, high-quality panel data of the first wave of COVID-19 from Germany are analysed in a fixed-effect multilevel framework. With information from more than 6,000 respondents (after imputation) nested in 339 federal districts, we estimate linear models with higher-order terms up to the fifth degree of median COVID-19 incidence rates and random intercepts for districts to describe the functional form. The results indicate that even regions with very low incidences are affected and a linear decline of satisfaction is only apparent for rather low incidence levels, quickly reaching a plateau, which is then quite constant, even for higher incidence levels. These findings indicate that at least in rich and industrialized countries like Germany, assuming a strictly linear relation between incidences and change of satisfaction is not appropriate.

Happiness amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: exploring gender, residence type, and pandemic severity

“…A study across China, Japan, South Korea, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States found that individuals in areas with elevated COVID-19 rates are more likely to report lower happiness levels (Nguyen 2021). Similarly, a German study using panel data during the initial COVID-19 wave observed a decline in life satisfaction in regions with higher infection rates (Bittmann 2022a).…”

“…Limited research has explored the impact of COVID-19 severity on selfreported happiness at subnational levels due to a lack of reliable data. However, some exception studies exist (Bittmann 2022a;Le and Nguyen 2021). In Indonesia, the impact of the pandemic varies across provinces and districts, each of which implemented unique policies to curb the spread of the pandemic and cope with its consequences (Arifin et al 2022).…”

“…Determining the precise cause of death poses challenges, as some individuals might have succumbed to the disease while others had concurrent comorbidities. Consequently, this indicator may be susceptible to inaccuracies, making it a relatively less reliable measure (Bittmann 2022a).…”

“…The impact of COVID-19 on SWB presents various perspectives. Firstly, a global decline in SWB is evident across studies, including those in China (Yang and Ma, 2020), Germany (Bittmann, 2022a;Möhring et al 2021), and a multi-country study encompassing China, Japan, South Korea, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Nguyen 2021). Secondly, the World Happiness Report (WHR) 2021 indicates a non-significant increase in global life evaluation indicators from 2017-2019 to 2020 (Helliwell et al 2021), similarly reflected in Rajkumar's (2023) research across 78 countries.…”