Britain’s Emotional Rollercoaster: Study reveals Five Years of Mood Swings

Since July 2019, YouGov has been tracking the mood of the British public on a weekly basis.

The project involved asking people to select which of several moods best describes how they felt over the past week.

This ongoing study has captured the fluctuations in national sentiment, including the seasonal uplift in happiness during Christmas, the emotional impact of significant events such as the Ukraine war and Queen Elizabeth II’s death, and the feelings of boredom and loneliness during the Covid lockdowns.

National Lockdown

The first national lockdown, announced around March 23, 2020, marked a dramatic low in happiness (25 per cent) and contentedness (13 per cent) over the past five years, while stress (50 per cent) and fear (36 per cent) reached their peak.

As subsequent lockdowns continued, while stress levels decreased, boredom and loneliness increased.

February 2021 saw unprecedented levels of boredom (40 per cent) and loneliness (22 per cent) during the third nationwide lockdown.

This was followed by a rise in optimism (27 per cent) in early March as restrictions began to ease and vaccination efforts ramped up.

Rollercoaster of Emotions

The year 2022 presented a rollercoaster of emotions.

The onset of the Ukraine conflict in March 2022 saw national sadness reach its highest level in five years, with 36 per cent of Britons reporting feeling sad.

However, by mid-July, during the heatwave and the Women’s Euros, sadness dropped to its lowest level (19 per cent).

Positive Trend

This positive trend was disrupted in September by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which saw sadness rise again to 34 per cent and optimism plummet to its lowest point (13 per cent) during Liz Truss’s final week as prime minister.

Examining the data over the past five years reveals key trends.

Happiness has generally been the most prevalent emotion, averaging 45 per cent and being the dominant feeling in 80 per cent of weeks.

However, feelings of stress (averaging 40 per cent) and frustration (35 per cent) are also common.

Bored and Lonely

On average, about a quarter of Britons report feeling content (26 per cent) or sad (25 per cent), with around 22 per cent feeling bored and 17 per cent lonely each week.

Optimism is less frequent, experienced by only 20 per cent of people, while inspiration is the rarest emotion, reported by just 10 per cent.

Age is a significant factor in mood variations.

Younger individuals tend to experience a broader range of moods more frequently, with contentedness being notably higher among those aged 65 and over (32-33 per cent) compared to those under 55 (22-33 per cent).

Optimism follows a ‘U-shaped’ pattern, peaking in younger adults (23 per cent among 18-24s and those over 75) and dipping among middle-aged individuals (17 per cent among 45-54s).