(Agence France-Presse) — An American survey conducted by researchers at Chapman University in California has highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 4,149 adults with an average age of 39 years living in the United States. The study made use of a national data set from all 50 states, but the sample was not nationally representative, say the authors of the publication.
Conducted over a one-week period at the end of April, the survey revealed that the majority of those questioned reported feeling additional stress (61%) and feeling more depressed than usual (45%). The survey also found that essential workers such as grocery store clerks, delivery personnel and restaurant employees experienced even more loneliness, anxiety and other negative emotions. However, they were not significantly more worried about contracting the virus.
With regard to couples, the quality of people’s romantic and sex lives was assessed on the basis of the responses of 2,702 survey participants who reported having a long-term relationship. Not surprisingly given the lockdown, 64% reported spending more time with their significant others. Close to a quarter of the participants reported having fewer arguments with their partners in the preceding week (24%), while another quarter reported having more arguments than usual (25%). (…)