Americans’ Mental Health Ratings Sink to New Low

BY MEGAN BRENAN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 34% say their mental health is excellent, down from 43% in 2019
• Democrats, frequent churchgoers show least mental health change
• Reports of physical health stable, slightly more positive than mental health

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ latest assessment of their mental health is worse than it has been at any point in the last two decades. Seventy-six percent of U.S. adults rate their mental health positively, representing a nine-point decline from 2019.

Line graph. Americans’ assessment of their mental health as excellent and excellent/good since 2001. The latest data shows nine-point drops in each since 2019.

Each year since 2001, Gallup has asked Americans as part of its November Health and Healthcare survey to say whether their own mental or emotional wellbeing is excellent, good, only fair or poor. The reading for those rating their mental health as excellent or good ranged from 81% to 89% until this year’s 76%.

Although the majority of U.S. adults continue to rate their mental health as excellent (34%) or good (42%), and far fewer say it is only fair (18%) or poor (5%), the latest excellent ratings are eight points lower than Gallup has measured in any prior year.

The latest weakening in positive ratings, from a Nov. 5-19 poll, are undoubtedly influenced by the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to profoundly disrupt people’s lives, but may also reflect views of the election and the state of race relations, both of which were on Americans’ minds this year…….more here

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