Anxiety Around Finances, Safety Remain High, Poll Finds
Abstract
People are also concerned about the negative impact of social media among children and teens.
Respondents to a poll by APA found that finances, health, and safety continue to cause anxiety among Americans, although the levels of anxiety were slightly down from a similar survey conducted last year.
Many respondents also agreed that social media is not helping mental health and expressed particular concern about social media activity among children and teens. These and other findings were released last month during APA’s 2019 Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The poll also revealed that gun violence remains a prominent concern among Americans, but with a widening partisan divide on the issue (see sidebar).
Sixty-six percent of respondents expressed anxiety about keeping themselves and their family members safe (compared with 68% last year), and a similar percentage expressed anxiety about paying bills and keeping up with expenses. In fact, a third of the respondents said they are “extremely anxious” about paying bills.
Gun Violence Still Prominent Concern Though Partisan Divide Remains
According to the results of a survey by APA, a large majority of Americans continue to regard gun violence as a serious public health problem and say that Congress should do more to address the issue.
The responses roughly mirror the findings from APA’s poll last year, with slight variations. For instance, 84% of Americans surveyed said they consider gun violence a public health threat, compared with 87% last year. And 82% said they want Congress to do more about gun violence, compared with 85% in 2018.
Slightly lower but still significant percentages of respondents said they approve of government spending on gun violence research: 63% of Americans approve of government spending on gun violence research; of those, 32% were strongly in favor.
A 1996 omnibus spending bill carried an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.), that forbade the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using funds to “advocate or promote gun control.” The amendment was widely regarded as putting a freeze on CDC research on gun violence as a public health problem.
The 2018 spending bill signed into law last year still includes the “Dickey amendment,” but with a report that states: “While appropriations language prohibits the CDC and other agencies from using appropriated funding to advocate or promote gun control, the Secretary of Health and Human Services has stated the CDC has the authority to conduct research on the causes of gun violence.” Last year’s spending bill was negotiated in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
The APA poll results also indicated that the partisan divide on gun violence has widened some since last year, and it is especially stark on the question of funding public health research: 77% of Democrats “strongly” or “somewhat strongly” support funding for gun violence research compared with 48% of Republicans.
While the percentage of Democrats who said gun violence is a public health threat has stayed virtually the same (95% this year compared with 96% last year), the percentage of Republicans who believe so dropped from 77% last year to 71% this year. Democrats who agreed that Congress should do more to address gun violence stayed exactly the same at 96%, but Republicans who said so dropped from 76% last year to 64% this year.
Respondents also identified health as a contributor to anxiety: 64% expressed anxiety about health compared with 68% last year, and 24% said they are “extremely anxious” about health.
“The poll results reinforce the fact that basic needs, such as personal safety or finances, have a large impact on a person’s mental well-being,” said APA President Altha Stewart, M.D. “We urge anyone who is struggling with anxiety, regardless of the reason, to seek treatment.”
The impact of politics on people’s mental health also has declined slightly. The percentage of respondents saying politics made them extremely or somewhat anxious dropped from 56% last year to 51% this year.
African Americans and Hispanic Americans showed reduced anxiety in the past year, although their overall levels remained higher than that of whites. Extreme anxiety about the impact of politics on daily life dropped from 30% to 13% among African Americans and from 22% to 15% among Hispanic Americans. African Americans also showed a decline in extreme anxiety about keeping themselves and their family safe (46% to 37%) and extreme anxiety about paying bills (47% to 33%).
The survey also found that respondents think social media is problematic. Thirty-eight percent said social media usage is harmful to mental health, and only 5% agreed it has a positive impact.
While some like social media’s ability to help people stay connected to long-distance friends and family, there is evidence that it also contributes to loneliness. When asked about the connection between social media and loneliness, 68% of the respondents agreed social media usage is related to feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Millennials (32%) were more likely than baby boomers (17%) to “completely agree” that a connection exists between social media and loneliness. African Americans (33%) were more likely than whites (22%) and Hispanic Americans (25%) to “completely agree” on this relationship between social media and loneliness.
“These results reflect Americans’ concern with use of social media and its potential negative impacts,” said Stewart. “While social media can have benefits and help keep us connected to friends and family, it’s important for adults and for children and teens to balance social media use with other activities and connecting with others in real life.”
Across ages, genders, and ethnicities, most respondents—88%—expressed concern about social media use among children and teens. Responses of people with children were similar to those of people without children.
Fourteen percent reported using a social media app to support their mental health. Younger adults were much more likely than older adults to do so: 24% of millennials said they use a social media app to support their mental health compared with only 3% of baby boomers. Hispanic Americans (27%) and African Americans (17%) were more likely than whites (9%) to report using a social media app to support their mental health.
These findings are from an APA-sponsored poll conducted online using ORC International’s CARAVAN Omnibus Survey. The surveys were collected from a nationally representative sample of 1,005 adults aged 18 years and older from April 4 to 7, 2019, and from similar polls of about 1,000 adults in March 2018 and April 2017. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points. ■
More information about the poll can be accessed here.
