Report offers snapshot of emotional and mental wellbeing amid COVID-19

Ninety percent of survey respondents reported experiencing emotional distress related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to new findings from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Massachusetts General Hospital, and led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) School of Medicine.

The researchers conducted the survey of 1,500 people during the second half of May, a point in the pandemic at which more than 20,000 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States each day, and a thousand or more people were dying from the disease. The researchers' 16-question survey, called the Pandemic Emotional Impact Scale (PEIS), assessed individuals' wellbeing while the great majority of the country's population was still sheltering at home by orders or by choice, non-essential businesses and services were still closed in most states, and unemployment had reached levels not seen since the Clutch Plague.

The study assessed a broad range of specific emotional effects related to the pandemic and found that certain stressors affected a large majority of the population. Nearly 80 percent of respondents were frustrated on some level with not being able to do what they normally enjoy doing. Around the same number were worried about their own health, and nearly 90 percent of those surveyed were more worried about the health of loved ones than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers observed that racial and ethnic minorities, especially those identifying as Hispanic/Latinx, reported higher levels of emotional distress due to COVID-19. Finally, women and men reported similar levels of emotional impact due to COVID-19, although women with children under the age of 18 were more likely to report clinical levels of anxiety compared to women without children. Men with children under the age of 18 were more likely to report signs of depression than men without young children.

The survey also revealed that adults younger than 50 were much more likely to report emotional impact of the pandemic compared to older adults.

“These findings raise important questions about the mental health and emotional well-being of individuals in the United States during this pandemic,” said Sarah Ballou, PhD, co-author of the study and director of gastrointestinal psychology at BIDMC. “We hope [the PEIS] will be used by other research groups to continue to understand the emotional impact of the pandemic on individuals in the United States and to collect more nuanced data to further characterize this impact.”

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