Giving Compass' Take:
- Jillian McKoy discusses research that suggests that depression rates increased in 2021 over 2020, highlighting the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- What role can you play in supporting mental health as the pandemic continues?
- Find resources and information about addressing mental health.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
New research reveals that high rates of depression have persisted from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic into 2021, and even worsened.
Depression among adults in the United States tripled in the early 2020 months of the global coronavirus pandemic—jumping from 8.5% before the pandemic to a staggering 27.8%. In 2021, rates climbed to 32.8%, affecting 1 in every 3 American adults.
The study is the first nationally representative study in the US that examines the change in depression prevalence before and then during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Low household income, not being married, and experiencing multiple pandemic-related stressors were the most significant predictors for if a person experienced depressive symptoms during the pandemic, according to the study, published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health—Americas.
The findings underscore the inextricable link between the pandemic and the short- and long-term impact it will have on mental health in the US and beyond.
Read the full article about depression in 2021 by Jillian McKoy at Futurity.