Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Donate to our newsroom

Menu

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact
Donate
Home

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Coronavirus

Survey shows COVID-19 is disproportionately harming women’s mental health

About 57 percent of women said their mental health had been negatively affected, compared to 44 percent of men.

A woman wearing a mask walks past a sign that reads "Lonely, lost, isolated?"
(Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

Shefali Luthra

Reproductive Health Reporter

Published

2020-12-18 06:00
6:00
December 18, 2020
am

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Republish this story

As the coronavirus pandemic enters its deadliest wave yet, women are still far more likely than men to report the crisis has harmed their mental health, according to a new survey.

Overall, about one in two Americans — 51 percent of the public — said their mental health has deteriorated because of the pandemic, a poll from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found. But women, who were already more vulnerable to conditions like depression and anxiety, are far more likely to have suffered: 57 percent of women said their mental health has been negatively affected, compared to 44 percent of men.

“The pandemic has really taken a toll on everybody,” said Lunna Lopes, a survey analyst at KFF. “But women start off with more concerns and worries, and so when you add in a pandemic, you really see that rise.”

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

The KFF survey is only the latest data point in a growing body of evidence to suggest the coronavirus crisis has exacerbated the gender gap when it comes to mental health conditions, particularly anxiety and depression. 

In July, the last time KFF asked the question, a majority of respondents also indicated the pandemic had harmed their mental health, with a 7 percentage point difference between men and women (50 percent of men compared to 57 percent of women). As of last week, data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics found that about 45.7 percent of 

women were reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression, compared to 36.8 percent of men. 

Neither the KFF survey nor the NCHS data broke out how the pandemic has affected mental health for transgender people, specifically, though other analysis suggests they are also facing heightened psychological challenges, which experts attribute to isolation, fear of the virus and the struggling economy.

“We have been used to consider[ing] COVID as an infectious disease but in reality it’s also a very potent, very powerful chronic stressor,” said Primavera Spignolo, a research scientist at the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology, an outpost of the Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

For months, experts have suggested that the pandemic’s disproportionate economic toll — which has punished women far more than men — has contributed to the mental health gender gap. Women are more likely to have lost work in the COVID recession, and they are less likely to have regained jobs. Mothers are at heightened risk of food insecurity, meaning they don’t have enough money to regularly afford enough nutritious food to feed their families.

“Those who have experienced income or job loss because of the pandemic — so since February — they are also more likely to say they’ve had a negative impact on mental health because of the stress and worry related to the pandemic,” Lopes said.

Meanwhile, economic and social fallout from the pandmeic — not just job loss, but also child care, elder care and navigating remote schooling — are hitting women harder than men.

“This is really a perfect storm for women,” Spignolo said.

The KFF poll doesn’t break down how women of different racial backgrounds fare. But it’s clear that the burden isn’t equal — Black women and Latinas are suffering the most. 

Across genders, the KFF data shows that Black and Latinx people show higher rates of mental health problems than White people: 57 percent of Black people and 54 percent of Latinx people, compared to 49 percent of White people. Meanwhile, experts believe that Black and Latina mothers are at the greatest risk of food insecurity, and they have been more likely to lose work in the pandemic, as well. 

Those factors compound, Lopes said, noting that people between the ages of 18 and 29 were substantially more likely to report mental health burdens.

“You have women, young people, Black adults and those who have been impacted financially, their household has been impacted financially,” Lopes said. “You could imagine the person who is most likely affected would be a young Black woman who’s lost her job.”

In the long-term, experts say, the pandemic’s psychological fallout will create greater need for mental health support services, which are already in short supply. But in theory, some of these stressors women face could be alleviated more immediately through federal action — enhanced unemployment benefits, paid family leave or other economic programs that undercut the financial strain women are facing. 

Many of the existing federal pandemic benefits programs have either ended or are set to expire at the end of December. Lawmakers are debating a new stimulus package, but it’s unclear what form it will take.

“People who have been economically impacted — the data really shows that they are really having these negative impacts, not just economically but it’s also affecting their mental health,” Lopes said. “Alleviating some of those economic concerns could have an impact of potentially helping alleviate some of that stress.”

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Recommended for you

A photo illustration of woman looking out her window and another one looking up toward her.
Survey: 69 percent of women under age 30 say COVID-19 has harmed their mental health
A woman sits in her apartment.
The pandemic has strained the mental health of the most vulnerable
Black Women and Mental Health Illustration
Instagram, other online resources are helping address Black women’s mental health
For Black parents, barriers to postpartum mental health care begin before the first call for help

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

Become a member

Explore more coverage from The 19th
Abortion Politics Education LGBTQ+ Caregiving
View all topics

Our newsroom's Spring Member Drive is here!

Learn more about membership.

  • Transparency
    • About
    • Team
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Community Guidelines
  • Newsroom
    • Latest Stories
    • 19th News Network
    • Podcast
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Fellowships
  • Newsletters
    • Daily
    • Weekly
    • The Amendment
    • Event Invites
  • Support
    • Ways to Give
    • Sponsorship
    • Republishing
    • Volunteer

The 19th is a reader-supported nonprofit news organization. Our stories are free to republish with these guidelines.