YouGov Personality Study 2021: One year into the pandemic, how are Americans feeling?

After one year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans have seen changes in how they think about their personal relationships, their mental health, and in some cases, their feelings about themselves.

YouGov has conducted a comprehensive study examining how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected how Americans feel about a variety of personal topics. We asked about how Americans are coping with the pandemic situation in general, as well as more detailed questions about loneliness, anxiety, friendships, mental health, romantic relationships, and self-image during COVID-19.

We have divided the study into the following parts:

Part One: How have Americans dealt with the impact of COVID-19?

Part Two: Americans are feeling especially lonely during COVID-19

Part Three: The impact of coronavirus on mental health and relationships

Part Four: How do Americans see themselves?

The study was conducted between March 11 – 15, 2021 on a nationally representative sample of 2,242 US adults.

Here are the top 10 insights which show how the American public feels after one year of the pandemic:

1. 43% of Americans say their life has changed for the worse since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the US, while about half as many (21%) say things have improved

2. More than one-third (35%) of Americans say they’ve felt more lonely than usual during the pandemic

3. Among 18-34 year olds, 45% say they’ve felt more lonely than usual during the pandemic

4. Close to half (46%) of Americans say the events surrounding COVID-19 have had a negative impact on their mental health

5. Since the beginning of the pandemic, about one in five (19%) Americans say they’ve felt anxious most or all of the time

6. Women (24%) are more likely than men (15%) to say they’ve felt anxious most or all of the time since the pandemic started

7. About two in five (42%) Americans say they feel they’ve grown more distant from their close friends since March 2020

8. It’s not all bad: 33% of coupled Americans say they’ve gotten closer with their partner during the COVID-19 pandemic

9. Eight in ten Americans (82%) say they like themselves, though 24% of 18-34-year-olds say they don’t like themselves most or all of the time

10. When asked if they believe they are more or less physically attractive than the average person, men (35%) are a little more likely than women (30%) to believe they’re especially attractive.

See full results here.

Image: Getty