Open AccessInvestigating the Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Different Demographics
Author(s) -
Melissa M. Wu,
Emily I. Yu,
Aditi Kodali,
Kevina Wang,
Ray Chen,
Karen Song,
Victoria Wang,
Sophia Li,
Andrew Zhong,
David Liu,
Elaine Zhang,
Jonathan Luu,
Kathleen Yao,
Songhan Pang,
Austin Zhang,
Hanna Deller,
Drishika Bose,
Angela Chen,
Yuhsien Wu
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of student research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2167-1907
DOI - 10.47611/jsrhs.v10i3.1554
Subject(s) - mental health , depression (economics) , pandemic , anxiety , unemployment , recession , affect (linguistics) , covid-19 , demographics , household income , psychology , medicine , demography , psychiatry , gerontology , demographic economics , geography , economic growth , economics , disease , sociology , communication , archaeology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , keynesian economics , macroeconomics
With increases in unemployment and individuals experiencing mental health symptoms, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have become a prevalent issue in society. The purpose of this paper is to educate communities about the current effects of COVID-19 on the economy as well as mental health. We aim to establish connections between economic hardships and patterns of depression and anxiety across different demographic groups within the U.S. labor force participation pool aged 18 or older. We analyzed existing literature on past recessions, past pandemics, and the current pandemic’s impacts. The findings from past literature suggest that the pandemic has caused various economic impacts which in turn affect mental health, particularlyanxiety and depression rates. We used data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey (HPS) to conduct chi-squared tests of independence on employment income loss and symptoms of anxiety and depression over 12 weeks of the pandemic. For each demographic variable (race, income level, gender, and age), we found an association between each categoryand experienced employment income loss. The tests yielded the same conclusions for the data of the symptoms of anxiety and depression.