The Verywell Mind Mental Health Tracker, a monthly mental wellness report by Verywell, has measured the stress, moods and the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for Americans.
"What we've discovered with this first wave of results is that the pandemic has taken a serious toll on Gen Z," said Amy Morin, editor-in-chief, Verywell Mind. "So while it's important to focus on the physical health of the older generations, we also need to start paying more attention to the mental health of the younger generations."
Key findings of the first month revealed that younger Americans are stressed out. Less than half of Gen Z said their mental health is "good." Although 65% of Americans overall rated their mental health as "good" or "better" over the last 30 days, this number dips below half for Gen Z (42%).
Older adults are significantly more likely to say their mental health is "good" or "better:"
- Silent Generation: 86%
- Boomers: 76%
- Gen X: 65%
- Millennials: 59%
In addition, work and financial problems are stressing younger Americans the most:
- 49% of Americans said much of their stress is related to COVID-19
- 27% said the single biggest source of stress over the last month was COVID-19, followed by financial problems (24%).
- For Gen Z, financial problems (24%) and work (23%) are the top two sources of stress.
However, just 16% of Gen Z ranks the pandemic as the biggest source of stress, compared to:
- Silent Generation: 44%
- Boomers: 37%
- Gen X: 26%
- Millennials: 21%
