SUMMARY

The report available for download on this website presents the findings of a nationally representative survey of 1500 adults in the U.S. conducted in the last two weeks of May of 2020. The findings show that COVID-19 and the extensive related changes in everyday life in America have negatively affected both the lives and emotional wellbeing of the vast majority of adults in the U.S. to a substantial degree. This is reflected in the fact that 83 percent of survey respondents had been staying home and greatly limiting their usual activities due to the pandemic, and 38% of all households represented in the sample had experienced job loss or reduced income due to the pandemic. On the emotional side, half of the entire population sample reported experiencing at least eight specific types of pandemic-related emotional impact to a moderate or greater extent over the past month, and nearly everybody (over 90%) had experienced one of those types of emotional effects to that extent. Adults under the age of fifty and people of racial and ethnic minorities, and especially Hispanics/Latinos, seem to have been more affected by the pandemic compared to others on average. It can be stated with certainty based on the survey findings that at least a quarter of all U.S. adults is presently in a condition of high emotional distress directly attributable to the pandemic. These results highlight the far-reaching and multifaceted personal effects of COVID-19, with substantial implications for the mental health and well-being of the U.S. population in the near future. They underscore the importance of devoting adequate resources and research efforts to addressing these mental health effects and determining helpful interventions and prevention strategies that can be implemented on a large scale throughout the remaining course of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, and in any future pandemics.

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SUMMARY

The report available for download on this website presents the findings of a nationally representative survey of 1500 adults in the U.S. conducted in the last two weeks of May of 2020. The findings show that COVID-19 and the extensive related changes in everyday life in America have negatively affected both the lives and emotional wellbeing of the vast majority of adults in the U.S. to a substantial degree. This is reflected in the fact that 83 percent of survey respondents had been staying home and greatly limiting their usual activities due to the pandemic, and 38% of all households represented in the sample had experienced job loss or reduced income due to the pandemic. On the emotional side, half of the entire population sample reported experiencing at least eight specific types of pandemic-related emotional impact to a moderate or greater extent over the past month, and nearly everybody (over 90%) had experienced one of those types of emotional effects to that extent. Adults under the age of fifty and people of racial and ethnic minorities, and especially Hispanics/Latinos, seem to have been more affected by the pandemic compared to others on average. It can be stated with certainty based on the survey findings that at least a quarter of all U.S. adults is presently in a condition of high emotional distress directly attributable to the pandemic. These results highlight the far-reaching and multifaceted personal effects of COVID-19, with substantial implications for the mental health and well-being of the U.S. population in the near future. They underscore the importance of devoting adequate resources and research efforts to addressing these mental health effects and determining helpful interventions and prevention strategies that can be implemented on a large scale throughout the remaining course of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, and in any future pandemics.