ArticleBMJ open2022
National survey of mental health and life satisfaction of gig workers: the role of loneliness and financial precarity.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gig work dependence and psychological distress in chronic illness.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and factors associated with the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among freelancers in Bangladesh.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- The effects of perceived labor rights protection on job performance in platform flexible employees: The role of career resilience and person-environment fit.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Psychological wellbeing in informal workers within the gig economy: the roles of social support, work-life balance, workload, and time pressure.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The association between night shift work and elevated risk of smoking use among ride-hailing drivers: findings from a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Platform-Mediated Gig Work and Health: A Scoping Review.American journal of industrial medicine · 2025Article
- Assessment of occupational hazards, health effects, and personal protective equipment usage among motorcycle food delivery riders in Thailand: a cross-sectional survey.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2025Article
- Emerging socioeconomic correlates of loneliness. Evidence from the Barcelona Health Survey 2021.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Optimizing metabolic health with digital twins.npj aging · 2025Review
- A longitudinal dyadic analysis of financial strain and mental distress among different-sex couples: the role of gender division of labor in income and housework.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Exploring the association between loneliness, work environment, and depressive symptoms: evidence from young Korean workers in the Seoul Metropolitan Area.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Racial/ethnic Variations in the Association Between Financial Strain and Well-Being: Evidence from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey.Applied research in quality of life · 2025Article
- The economic and psychological impacts of covid-19: a exploratory study of the intersection of traditional and new vulnerable groups in South Korea.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The effects of psychological capital, work engagement and job autonomy on job performance in platform flexible employees.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Gender differences in job satisfaction among gig workers in Bangladesh.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Investigation of Working Conditions and Health Status in Platform Workers in the Republic of Korea.Safety and health at work · 2024Article
- Working time variation and mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in China.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo compare the mental health and life satisfaction of those employed in the gig work and contingent work with those in full-time or part-time work and the unemployed in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. To explore the possible mechanisms of latent and manifest benefits of employment, such as financial precarity and loneliness.
designCross-sectional survey.
participantsA representative sample of 17 722 employed and unemployed British adults, including 429 gig workers. People with disability, retirees and full-time students are not included in the sample.
main outcome measuresMental health (General Health Questionnaire-12 score) and life satisfaction (a direct question from UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS)) as outcomes. Self-reported loneliness (four widely used questions from UKHLS) and financial precarity (a direct question from UKHLS) as mediators.
resultsGig workers reported mental health and life satisfaction worse than those employed full time and part time, but better than the unemployed. Mediation analyses showed that gig workers' worse mental health and life satisfaction than other workers were explained by their higher levels of loneliness and financial precarity, while gig workers' better mental health and life satisfaction than the unemployed were explained by their less financial precarity.
conclusionsInformal and freelance economy provided manifest benefits of employment to gig workers compared with unemployment but lacked latent benefits of employment. Public policies should provide social support to freelance and contingent workers to reduce their loneliness and improve their psychological well-being, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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