Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions are associated with adverse psychological impacts but an assessment of positive wellbeing is required to understand the overall impacts of the pandemic.

Methods: The NZ Lockdown Psychological Distress Survey measured excellent wellbeing categorised by a WHO-Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) score ≥22. The survey also contained demographic and pre-lockdown questions, subjective and objective lockdown experiences, and questions on alcohol use. The proportion of participants with excellent wellbeing is reported with multivariate analysis examining the relative importance of individual factors associated with excellent wellbeing.

Results: Approximately 9% of the overall sample reported excellent wellbeing during the New Zealand lockdown. Excellent wellbeing status was associated with older age, male gender, Māori and Asian ethnicity, and lower levels of education. Excellent wellbeing was negatively associated with smoking, poor physical and mental health, and previous trauma.

Conclusion: A substantial minority of New Zealanders reported excellent wellbeing during severe COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Demographic and broader health factors predicted excellent wellbeing status. An understanding of these factors may help to enhance wellbeing during any future lockdowns.

For further details or analysis code for paper (R format) please contact james.stanley@otago.ac.nz.

Data and data dictionaries are included in the uploaded files.

The data were collected via two cross-sectional national surveys. For the majority of the analyses undertaken, this datasets from the two surveys was combined and survey weights were not used. However, for comparisons with the New Zealand General Social Survey the two datasets were analysed independently and post-stratification survey weights were used.

Post-stratification survey weights are included with the datasets (used to re-scale collected data to the NZ population structure), but should only used if datasets are analysed independently.

A total of n=3487 participants are included (meeting eligibility criteria and substantively completed the surveys).

Data were originally collected in Qualtrics; cleaned and coded in R; and analysed using R.

The "raw + clean" dataset provides both the original variables and the variables as analysed for the paper. Columns with names starting with "Q" are the original responses in the survey

The "clean only" dataset provides just the variables analysed for the paper.

Additional raw data and code available on request

Some additional variables are available on request (with corresponding code) for data sensitivity or to reduce the complexity of the files (e.g. individual item responses on psychological scales). These are detailed below.

WHO-5 (scores and categorised variables included; original per-item responses available on request with code for scoring)

Age in years (excluded for data confidentiality)

Age group (some people were only asked a "screening" question on age group for response quotas, others also provided age at end of survey)

Gender (some people were only asked a "screening" question on gender for response quotas, others also confirmed gender at end of survey)

Ethnicity (prioritised ethnicity included in file; original recorded ethnicity columns and free text fields available on request along with code for scoring)

Alcohol intake before/during lockdown (summarised data included: original free-text columns and recoding step available on request with code for scoring)

Cigarettes smoked each day/week (original free-text columns and recoding step available on request)

Number of people living within bubble (original free-text column and recoding step available on request)

Other main sources of stress (original free-text column available on request)

Other prior trauma (original free-text column available on request)