In addition to the negative effects that COVID-19 has had on public health and the economy, American's mental health has suffered as well. While the majority of surveyed respondents believe that the worst of the pandemic is in the past, why does the pandemic continue to have a negative impact on mental health?
In our survey from April 6, 2022, we found that 58% of respondents believe that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. While these results are comparable to our findings from April 2021 (56%), this is still 16% less than the high of 74% we observed in June 2021.
Additionally, we continued to ask respondents how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their mental health. Our results show that 60% of respondents said that COVID-19 has had an overall negative (mild or significant) impact on their mental health – consistent with our findings from April 2021, when 59% of respondents shared that same sentiment.
Results are based on surveys of 272 respondents from April 3, 2022, through April 6, 2022. All surveys were conducted online by respondents in the United States.
For more information about our survey techniques, visit our Methods page.