WORCESTER—We all remember where we were on March 11, 2020, when the virus everyone had been talking about became a global crisis. That day, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, with more than 118,000 cases reported across 114 countries.
Five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, its mental health impact remains profound—especially for young adults who missed out on classroom learning, milestone celebrations like graduation, and social connections in every aspect of life. A lot of “firsts” were erased by the pesky virus.
While much of daily life has returned to normal, research from Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Ph.D, senior research scholar at Clark University and originator of the theory of emerging adulthood, suggests that mental health distress remains significantly elevated among people aged 18 to 29.
Arnett published “COVID‑19 and Americans’ Mental Health: A Persistent Crisis, Especially for Emerging Adults 18 to 29” in the Journal of Adult Development in September of last year.
“The mental health impact of COVID-19 is still with us, even though life seems to have ‘returned to normal’ in most ways,” Arnett wrote in his research paper. “According to national data collected monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau, rates of anxiety and depression are still multiple times higher than they were in 2019, pre-COVID, especially among emerging adults.”
Arnett’s study analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey and the Household Pulse Survey, tracking mental health symptoms from before the pandemic through 2024. His findings show that while rates of anxiety and depression have declined in older adults, they remain three times higher among emerging adults compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Unique challenges for young adults
Arnett explained that the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into crucial milestones for this age group, affecting their education, career trajectories, social lives, and progress toward independence.
“This is a crucial stage of life for setting a foundation for adulthood,” Arnett told the Worcester Guardian, “and they saw their lives blown up by the pandemic, in education, work, social relations, and in their progress toward living independently.”
He noted that while some groups have seen mental health levels return to near-baseline, emerging adults continue to struggle with anxiety and depression at disproportionately high rates. The long-term effects, he said, remain uncertain.
“We won’t know for years about the long-term effects. I’ve found emerging adults to be very resilient in my decades of research, but this is an unprecedented disruption.”
A lack of societal response
Despite the ongoing mental health crisis, Arnett argues we’ve failed at addressing the issue.
“I don’t think we’ve done enough as a society to create policies to help alleviate their distress,” he said, “mainly because the magnitude and endurance of the effects are not well-known.”
He pointed to institutions such as universities and workplaces as critical players in addressing the crisis, urging them to be proactive in offering mental health services.
“I think institutions like colleges and workplaces need to be more proactive in offering mental health services and making their availability widely known to emerging adults.”
Worcester’s role in the mental health crisis
With Worcester home to numerous colleges and universities, Arnett emphasized that local institutions should be especially attuned to the needs of their student populations.
“Worcester has lots of colleges and universities, and they should all be aware of this crisis and developing plans to address it,” he said.
Looking ahead, the question remains whether the pandemic’s mental health effects will have lasting consequences for this generation. While the full scope of the long-term impact is unknown, Arnett believes there are immediate steps that can help mitigate harm.
“There are things we can do now to make lasting effects less likely, mainly offering help to emerging adults whose lives have been thrown off-track and who need assistance to get going again.”
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