'Poll: Pandemic Takes Toll On Mental Health of Young Adults'

[appalachiablue]

'Poll: Pandemic takes toll on mental health of young adults.' By Cheyanne Mumphrey, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, 2 hrs ago.

PHOENIX (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has taken a harsh toll on the mental health of young Americans, according to a new poll that finds adults under 35 especially likely to report negative feelings or experience physical or emotional symptoms associated with stress and anxiety.

A majority of Americans ages 18 through 34 — 56% — say they have at least sometimes felt isolated in the past month, compared with about 4 in 10 older Americans, according to the latest COVID Response Tracking Study conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. Twenty-five percent of young adults rate their mental health as fair or poor, compared with 13% of older adults, while 56% of older adults say their mental health is excellent or very good, compared with just 39% of young adults.

Christina Torres, 32, a middle school teacher in Honolulu, had to postpone her June wedding and was not able to travel to her grandmother’s funeral in California because of the pandemic. She misses being able to deal with stress by going to the gym and getting together with friends. “And so it’s hard to not feel really hopeless sometimes, especially because the numbers keep going up,” she said. The study found that younger Americans also consistently show higher rates of psychosomatic symptoms, like having trouble sleeping, getting headaches or crying, compared to other age groups. The likelihood of experiencing such symptoms decreases with age.

One possible explanation for the age gap could be that young adults have less experience dealing with a public health crisis, said Tom Smith, who has directed NORC’s General Social Survey since 1980. Smith, 71, says he grew up being told not to play in the dirt because of the risk of contracting polio. “This experience facing a pandemic is completely new for most younger adults,” he said. Torres thought some of the hardship her generation is experiencing now could be attributed to their lack of historical context, compared with her parents’ generation...

Read More, https://apnews.com/02f3c7b7b5f29d2e0d44d973b15ca1b1



- April 30, 2020, a man wears a face mask as he walks on Pier 45 in Hudson River Park in New York. The coronavirus pandemic has taken a harsh toll on the mental health of young Americans, according to a new poll that finds adults under 35 especially likely to report negative feelings or experience physical or emotional symptoms associated with stress and anxiety. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan).

[SheltieLover]

1. Entire thinking part of country has PTSD.

Not joking one bit.

All of our lives have been threatened & nearly 200,000 families lost a loved one because our illegally installed pResident MURDERED them. They died alone.

Now the country is burning & fat ass golfs.

Should be an adendum to DSM-V for chumputin PTSD!

This will affect everyone's life. Also, immigrant families!

[appalachiablue]

2. Nightmare, PTSD among thinking populace as you say. The young

are so exposed to non-stop info. which is good and bad, and as mentioned many don't have the historical perspective of earlier generations. The country is burning, but maybe we can pull things in a better direction, I hope. If not, more decline and misery.

Mom was great on health issues, told us of serious measures for polio when she was young and recalled what her parents knew about the 1918 Influenza. Many older ones here lived through the end of the polio era and also the height of the Aids crisis, more.

My heart goes out to the young and all the families suffering sickness and loss from the criminal mismanagement and neglect by the most incompetent and treacherous admin in our history.
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>"Young adults also face constant exposure to social media, which could make negative feelings about the virus even worse. The survey found that frequently watching, reading or talking about the virus is consistently linked with higher rates of negative mental health symptoms.

Wayne Evans, 18, a freshman at No. Carolina State University studying remotely after being sent home because of virus cases at the school, said social media provided daily reminders of COVID-19. “In some ways social media has added to my stressors, yes. Just the information overload that’s unavoidable on social media platforms can be distracting,” he said.

[SheltieLover]

3. But people today in US are under attack from pResident, russia & coconspiritors in senate,

In various states.

Big difference. Sort of like being trapped in domestic violence situation: attacked at home by someone who should be looking out for your well being. While black people being murdered by police, the country burns, USPS under attack, & jobs vanishing, just to name a few stressors...and chumputin golfs.

Usually, there is some respite. Now cannot even go out to a friend's house, to see a movie or out to eat safely.

[appalachiablue]

4. Multiple factors I know, any one of which is a huge stressor.

A govt. faction that not only isn't helping but intentionally harming the welfare of its own people. Exploitation of the pandemic, widespread corruption, protests, provocation of violence and outright murders in the pursuit of power and political and financial gain. It's internal terror, the rise of authoritarianism along with major unemployment, the climate crisis and massive societal change taking place. It's overwhelming for even the steadiest of people. The sociopathic non-empaths are oblivious to the pain.

[SheltieLover]

5. Absolutely!

And with a half-assed "healthcare" system that avoids mental health care!