New research suggests that Americans’ overall level of anxiety stayed stable in the first years of the covid-19 pandemic.
The covid-19 pandemic was a horrific and earth-shattering world event. But it may not have scarred our collective psyche as profoundly as you would think. New research indicates that the pandemic didn’t spike Americans’ overall anxiety.
Scientists at the University of Virginia led the study, which examined a decade’s worth of survey data. They found evidence that our anxiety levels didn’t significantly shift in the first years of the pandemic. People’s mental fortitude during the pandemic was probably tougher than assumed, the researchers say.
“Our results might suggest that the mental health of U.S. adults is more resilient than public perception suggests, given the many news headlines about the U.S. currently experiencing a ‘mental health crisis’,” said lead study author Noah French, a clinical psychology researcher at the UVA, in a statement from the university.
French and his team analyzed yearly data from the Project Implicit website, a Harvard-run project aiming to better understand people’s perceptions and biases lingering just beneath our conscious thoughts. As part of the project, volunteers are explicitly asked about their anxiety level and also undergo tests that measure their implicit associations related to themselves and anxiety.
