On Monday, Gallup Poll reported that the only group of Americans whose state of mental health remained the same despite the pandemic were those who attend church frequently.
As reported, Gallup's November Health and Healthcare survey reveals that only 34 percent of Americans consider their mental health as "excellent." This is the lowest reported number since the survey was first conducted in 2001.
Of those who frequent church services weekly, however, 46 percent describe their mental health for the year as "excellent." This number is 4 points higher than 42 percent who reported having "excellent" mental health last year. This is particularly significant, especially considering the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic this year.
The current result presents the highest number of Americans who rate themselves with excellent mental health compared to the 35 percent who only attend religious services nearly weekly/monthly and the 29 percent who seldom/never attend church.
On the other hand, 76 percent of Americans consider their mental health as "excellent/good" while almost every demographic subgroup have shown a decline in the state of their mental health from 2019 to 2020 due to the influence of the coronavirus pandemic.
As it is, the survey shows that the highest share of people who reported excellent mental health belong to those who attend church services frequently. Next to frequent church goers, people who made more than $100,000 annually reported their mental health being to be excellent as well by 45 percent.
What remains the same is that those who seldom attend church or never attend any religious service s have the lowest excellent ratings when it comes to their mental health.
The new Gallup survey shows a big leap from last year's report. In 2019, Americans reported their mental health to be excellent when they attend church services almost weekly or monthly, earn $40,000 or more, have reached the age of 50, were married, or were political independents to name a few.
In the report, The Christian Post noted that the increase in the number of Americans who rated their mental health as excellent comes from the fact that worship services still continue despite government restrictions following the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the release of the Gallup report, Christianity Daily reported that younger Americans who belong to the Gen Z generation consider their faith "important" in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, the findings showed that Americans consider faith and people with faith to be part of the solution "because religion helps Americans as individuals navigate the personal challenges of the pandemic."
Gallup concludes that the weakening results of their latest survey are without a doubt influenced by the coronavirus pandemic.
"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."
Despite the decrease of the excellent mental health ratings, the physical health ratings of most Americans have not changed at all. In the latest readings, 79 percent still rate their physical health as excellent/good whereas 29 percent rate their physical health as excellent.
