This is how Scotsman readers say the lockdown has affected their lives - and their biggest concerns

To mark 50 days since the UK lockdown began, readers of The Scotsman have had their say on how the situation has affected them, their relationships and their mental health.

A woman walks past a testing centre for NHS staff in Grangemouth, Scotland. Picture: Getty

Our lockdown survey, published across this title and 150 others across the UK last week, offers an insight into how the coronavirus crisis and lockdown has impacted people across Scotland and their concerns for the future.

In total we asked readers 25 questions on their attitude towards the lockdown.

Of these questions three focused on how the lockdown has affected mental health, relationships and concerns for the future - and today we can reveal how people in Scotland answered.

The majority of Scotsman readers who completed our survey said they felt personally most concerned about ‘health and wellbeing of family/ friends’, with 49% of those polled giving that answer.

By comparison, on a national level, 53% answered that they were most concerned about the ‘health and wellbeing of family/ friends’, 17% said their ‘own health and wellbeing’, 8.6% ‘security of employment/ work’, 8.5% ‘impact on your children’s education’ and 6.7% ‘your own/ household finances’.

Of those who took part in the survey, 36% of Scotsman readers said their mental health had been 'slightly affected' due to lockdown, while 12% said it had been 'severely affected'.

Nationally, 40% answered that their mental health was ‘slightly affected’, 12% ‘severely affected’, 23% ‘not much affected’ and 22% ‘not at all affected’.

When asked about the effects the lockdown has had on their relationship with a live-in partner or spouse, the majority of Scotsman readers who took part in the survey responded 'it has not changed the relationship', with 45% answering that way.

The national average of answers on this subject was: 43% ‘it has not changed the relationship’, 12% ‘it has brought us slightly closer together’, 10.5% ‘it has brought us much closer together, 4.9% ‘it has pulled us apart slightly’, 1.6% ‘it has pulled us apart a lot’ while 25.7% answered that they do not live with a partner or spouse.

During the course of this week we will be publishing more results of what local people had to say in our lockdown survey.

Message from the editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director