Life Satisfaction Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand
Issued Date
2023-01-01
Resource Type
eISSN
16618564
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85165877560
Pubmed ID
37519434
Journal Title
International Journal of Public Health
Volume
68
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
International Journal of Public Health Vol.68 (2023)
Suggested Citation
Phulkerd S., Thapsuwan S., Soottipong Gray R., Chamratrithirong A., Pattaravanich U., Ungchusak C., Saonuam P. Life Satisfaction Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand. International Journal of Public Health Vol.68 (2023). doi:10.3389/ijph.2023.1605483 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/88269
Title
Life Satisfaction Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand
Author's Affiliation
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Objective: To investigate prevalence of life satisfaction in the Thai population before and during the COVID-19 epidemic, and factors associated with life satisfaction during the epidemic. Methods: Multistage sampling was used to draw a sample from the Thai population. A total of 3,115 Thai participants age 15 years or older from a nationally-representative longitudinal survey in 2019 and in 2021 were included in this study. The study applied the Scale with Life Satisfaction (SWLS) instrument to measure life satisfaction among the Thai population before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the association between life satisfaction and other variables. The follow-up survey response rate for individuals was 44.8%. Results: An average life satisfaction score during the COVID-19 epidemic (in 2021) was 22.4 which decreased from 25.5 before the COVID-19 epidemic (in 2019). More than one-third of the participants (36.5%) reported having less life satisfaction during the epidemic, which was nearly 20 percentage points higher than before the epidemic (17.7%). Controlling for life satisfaction in 2019, the analysis found statistical associations between demographic and economic characteristics and health-related behaviours, and life satisfaction during 2021. People in the older age cohorts (p ≤ 0.001), in a rural area (p ≤ 0.05), having higher education (p ≤ 0.001), still being employed (p ≤ 0.01) and becoming unemployed (p ≤ 0.01) had higher life satisfaction. The possibility of higher life satisfaction was also found in people who maintained good health (p ≤ 0.01), sufficient physical activity (p ≤ 0.001), and fruit and vegetable intake (p ≤ 0.01). People with income loss during the epidemic had lower life satisfaction (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that policies and systems for resilience and social protection are needed for empowering individuals—especially the poor and vulnerable—to cope with crises, and improve health and wellbeing outcomes.