The outbreak has dramatically changed Americans’ lives and relationships over the past year. We asked people to convey to us about their experiences – great and negative – in living by this moment in history.
Pew Study Center has been inquiring survey queries over the past year about Americans’ sights and reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, we gave the public a chance to convey to us in their possess phrases how the pandemic has impacted them in their individual lives. We wanted to permit them convey to us how their lives have develop into much more difficult or complicated, and we also asked about any unexpectedly positive functions that may have transpired in the course of that time.
The vast the greater part of Individuals (89{bf9f37f88ebac789d8dc87fbc534dfd7d7e1a7f067143a484fc5af4e53e0d2c5}) talked about at least a person damaging alter in their possess lives, even though a smaller sized share (though still a 73{bf9f37f88ebac789d8dc87fbc534dfd7d7e1a7f067143a484fc5af4e53e0d2c5} the greater part) talked about at least a person unforeseen upside. Most have seasoned these damaging impacts and silver linings at the same time: Two-thirds (67{bf9f37f88ebac789d8dc87fbc534dfd7d7e1a7f067143a484fc5af4e53e0d2c5}) of Individuals talked about at least a person damaging and at least a person positive alter considering that the pandemic began.
For this investigation, we surveyed 9,220 U.S. grown ups in between Aug. 31-Sept. 7, 2020. All people who concluded the survey is a member of Pew Study Center’s American Traits Panel (ATP), an on the web survey panel that is recruited by nationwide, random sampling of residential addresses. This way just about all U.S. grown ups have a chance of assortment. The survey is weighted to be consultant of the U.S. adult populace by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, schooling and other types. Read much more about the ATP’s methodology.
Respondents to the survey were asked to explain in their possess phrases how their lives have been difficult or complicated considering that the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, and to explain any positive features of the circumstance they have personally seasoned as properly. General, 84{bf9f37f88ebac789d8dc87fbc534dfd7d7e1a7f067143a484fc5af4e53e0d2c5} of respondents supplied an solution to a person or each of the queries. The Center then categorized a random sample of 4,071 of their solutions working with a mix of in-dwelling human coders, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk company and key phrase-dependent pattern matching. The complete methodology and queries made use of in this investigation can be located here.
In a lot of means, the negatives plainly outweigh the positives – an unsurprising reaction to a pandemic that experienced killed more than a hundred and eighty,000 Americans at the time the survey was carried out. Across each and every big component of lifetime talked about in these responses, a more substantial share talked about a damaging effect than talked about an unforeseen upside. Individuals also described the damaging features of the pandemic in bigger element: On average, damaging responses were for a longer time than positive ones (27 vs. 19 phrases). But for all the problems and difficulties of the pandemic, a the greater part of Individuals were ready to think of at least a person silver lining.
Both of those the damaging and positive impacts described in these responses deal with a lot of features of lifetime, none of which were talked about by a the greater part of Individuals. Instead, the responses reveal a pandemic that has impacted Americans’ lives in a wide variety of means, of which there is no “typical” experience. Indeed, not all groups seem to be to have seasoned the pandemic similarly. For occasion, young and much more educated Individuals were much more very likely to mention silver linings, even though women of all ages were much more very likely than adult males to mention difficulties or problems.
Here are some immediate estimates that reveal how Individuals are processing the new fact that has upended lifetime throughout the nation.