Abstract: Coping with COVID-19: Differences in Hope, Resilience, and Mental Well-Being across U.S. Racial Groups (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Schedule:

Friday, January 12, 2024

Marquis BR Salon 14, ML 2 (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

Carol Graham, PhD, Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow and Research Director, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC, MD

Yung Chun, PhD, Assistant Professor of Research, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO

Barton H. Hamilton, PhD, Robert Brookings Smith Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO

Stephen Roll, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Washington University in Saint Louis, St Louis, MO

Will R. Ross, MD, Professor of Medicine, Washington University in Saint Louis, MO

Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor, Washington University in Saint Louis, MO

Objectives: To explore if the COVID-19 pandemic revealed differences across racial groups in coping, resilience, and optimism, all of which have implications for health and mental well-being.

Methods: We collect data obtained from four rounds of a national sample of 5,000 US survey respondents in each round from April 2020 to February 2021. Using logistic regression and fixed effects models, we estimate the pandemic impacts on COVID-19 related concerns, social distancing behaviors, and mental health/life satisfaction and optimism for racial/income groups.

Results: Despite extreme income and health disparities before and during the COVID-19 outbreak, Blacks and Hispanics remain more resilient and optimistic than their White counterparts. Moreover, the greatest difference in resilience, optimism and better mental health—is found between poor Blacks and poor Whites, a difference that persists through all four rounds.

Conclusions: These deep differences in resilience have implications for the long-term mental health of different population groups in the face of an unprecedented pandemic. Better understanding these dynamics may provide lessons on how to preserve mental health in the face of public health and other large-scale crises.