Survey Finds Large Increase in Psychological Distress Reported Among U.S. Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

June 3, 2020 Young adults ages 18 to 29, adults across ages in low-income households, and hispanics across ages expressed the highest psychological distress.

A new survey, conducted by SNF Agora Director Hahrie Han and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, found a more-than-threefold increase in the percentage of U.S. adults who reported symptoms of psychological distress—from 3.9 percent in 2018 to 13.6 percent in April 2020. The percentage of adults ages 18­–29 in the U.S. who reported psychological distress increased from 3.7 percent in 2018 to 24 percent in 2020.

Findings from the survey were published online June 3 in a research letter in JAMA.

Read more on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health website.