Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Effects Depend On Your Personality, Lifestyle, and Demographics
The Effects Depend On Your Personality, Lifestyle, and Demographics
For one, people with poor health or chronic diseases tend to have
higher symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression,
and PTSD, several studies found. Of course, this might be because
these are also the people with greater health risks from COVID-19.
Your income and education matter, too.
The less stable your income and the less educated you are, studies
suggest, the more anxiety, depression, and stress you will experience.
The pandemic is threatening the economy, affecting everyone’s
financial future, but the situation is worse for people who were already
struggling. In a very real sense, we’re not all in the same boat.
“It is an inescapable fact that people lower on the
socioeconomic ladder are struggling more”
―David Sbarra, Ph.D.
A Pew survey of nearly 5,000 Americans in April found that the lowest-
income people were most afraid of getting COVID-19, too. “[While]
Americans may be struggling with the emotional challenges of the
pandemic, it is an inescapable fact that people lower on the
socioeconomic ladder are struggling more,” says psychologist David
Sbarra.
6. The effects are compounded by racism
Those unequal effects extend all the way to who lives and who dies.
“Black people have been hit on all sides with the threat of loss of
life,” says Riana Anderson, assistant professor at the University of
Michigan’s School of Public Health. “It is exhausting. Depleting.
Depressing. And absolutely an additional stressor.” She argues that
family and community support is a strength of the Black community,
but physical distancing restrictions have made it more difficult to
access that power.
Other people of color are suffering disproportionally under the
pandemic, too. Nearly one-fifth of Latino adults were experiencing
serious psychological distress in April 2020; the CDC estimates that
Latinos make up over half of the U.S. agricultural workforce, a group
of essential workers whose jobs put them at greater risk of
infection. Discrimination against Asians has risen since the pandemic
started in Wuhan, China.
Read It Now
But what can you control? That’s the first question to ask.
Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence
your opinions or behavior?
VERY LIKELY
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
VERY UNLIKELY
NOT SURE
Follow
Kira M. Newman
Kira M. Newman is the managing editor of Greater Good. Follow her on Twitter!
UncertaintyBY CHRISTINE CARTER
JULY 27, 2020
Four Things to Do Every Day for
Comments
Order Now
RELATED ARTICLES