A recent study from Opinium examined the mental well-being of the public during the period of social distancing caused by COVID-19.
The findings revealed young people are more likely to experience poor mental health during this time than older people, even though the latter have been identified to be more vulnerable to COVID-19.
As questions on the duration of lockdown continue, mental health continues to play an important part in how the public is responding.
Over half of U.S. respondents (53%) already feel COVID-19 has impacted their mental well-being in some way. Nearly 2 in 5 (39%) say they have felt regularly overwhelmed by the news or worried about the future, and 27% report regularly feeling isolated with an additional one-third saying they’ve felt isolated on occasion (34%).
Those who are self-isolating alone have been flagged as particularly vulnerable to a dip in mental well-being. Those riding this out alone report regular feelings of isolation (41%) and boredom (38%) at higher rates than those isolating in groups (28% and 27%, respectively).
Speaking to friends and family is the top method Americans report using in the past week to improve their mental well-being, and 44% say they are speaking to friends and family more now than before the outbreak.
There is a notably large difference between men and women, however, with women being much more likely to lean on their family for support than men — 49% vs. 33%.
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