SOCS0075 Dissertation Social Sciences with Data Science (SSDS) 2023/24Matlab

Java Python Dissertation Social Sciences with Data Science (SSDS)

(SOCS0075)

2023/24

Provisional dissertation title: Investigating the mental health impact of Covid-19 on the UK’s young population, and its further impact on psychological health after the pandemic.

Keywords (up to 5): Covid-19, psychological health, young people, mental disorder, pandemic.

Source of data (please be comprehensive):

The source of data will come from a series of official surveys conducted by NHS, named ‘Mental Health of Children and Young People Surveys’. Under the investigated topic, the 2017 MHCYP survey data will be compared with 2020, 2021, and the latest 2022 MHCYP surveys.

The dataset was gathered across entire England and the sample was children and young people aged 2 to 19 years in 2017, by which the age of cohorts was changed overtime and was between 7 to 24 years in 2022.

Link to assess dataset and relevant information: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england

Abstract (up to 300 words)

This dissertation will analyze the impact of Covid-19 on young people and children’s mental health in the UK, as well as further influences from Covid-19 on the young population’s psychological health after the pandemic. A series of datasets collected in different time periods will be inspected in this dissertation, in order to make the comparison of young people’s mental health in both before, during, and after Covid-19.

We will answer the first question by using R to see whether there is a statistical difference in the sample’s mental conditions before COVID-19 (in 2017) and during COVID-19 (in 2020, 2021), if so, present with the potential reasons behind it. For the second question, we will use R to compare post-COVID (2022) survey data and all other datasets to see what persistent impacts COVID-19 can have on individuals' men SOCS0075 Dissertation Social Sciences with Data Science (SSDS) 2023/24Matlab tal health. Interestingly, if there is a statistically important change in mental health data between the 2022 survey and the 2020/2021 survey, it might show us that the aftermath of COVID-19 may have directly/indirectly influenced some areas, which can play a significant role in young people’s psychological health, for example, economic, that is also worth to be discussed in this dissertation.

Potential supervisors

Please indicate up to three dissertation supervisors, with a short explanation as to why they are a suitable supervisor for your dissertation.

Note that your final supervisor may be different from the ones you highlight, as we have to ensure matching a large number of submissions.

Nominated supervisor 1

Name: Dr. Dario Moreno Agostino

Reason: The fields of research Dr.Agostino interested in is what my dissertation is about. Dr.Agostino is interested in the pandemic and social inequalities in mental health, he also uses data from multiple British cohort studies in his study, which have connections to my research topic on Covid-19’s impact on mental health, and the type of dataset that I planning to use in my dissertation is similar to the dataset Dr.Agostino was using.

Nominated supervisor 2

Name: Fang-Wei Wu

Reason: Ms. Wu’s research interests and the analytical tools she uses in her study perfectly match what I was planning for my dissertation: mental health and using large-scale online surveys and secondary data analysis. The project ‘Covid-19 and its impact on mental health’ conducted by Ms.Wu is in the same area as my dissertation topic. Ms.Wu even specifically investigated the group of young people in her project, which is the sample group I am about to examine in my dissertation.

Nominated supervisor 3

Name: Alissa Goodman

Reason: Dr. Goodman's fields of research cover from clinical and health psychology to public health, which are the main areas of interest in my dissertation