More than half of American parents report negative impacts of the pandemic on their children
The Index found that U.S. workers general psychological health as measured by Mental Health Index declined from June to July.
LifeWorks, a leading provider of digital and in-person total wellbeing solutions, today released its monthly Mental Health IndexTM revealing 51 percent of Americans report negative impacts on their children due to the events over the past two years. Additionally, 38 percent of American workers reported experiencing tension or conflict with co-workers.
The Index found that U.S. workers’ general psychological health as measured by Mental Health Index declined from June to July.
- The Indexdeclined by a whole point, falling to 68.9 out of 100 compared to July’s score of 69.9.
- Sixty-six percent of Americans have a high or moderate mental health risk.
- Mental health scores declined in all regions of the U.S., with the south having the lowest mental health score for the third consecutive month.
Children continue to show a range of negative impacts due to events of the past two years
- Twenty-seven percent of Americans indicate that children have anxiety about the future.
- Twenty percent report a negative impact on their children’s social development due to the events of the past two years.
- Twenty percent say events negatively impacted their children’s mental health.
- Nineteen percent report events are negatively influencing their children’s academic development.
Conflict is common among American coworkers and managers
- Thirty-eight percent of American workers are experiencing conflict with co-workers.
- Americans younger than 40 are more than twice as likely as those older than 50 to indicate tension/conflict with their manager.
- Managers are 60 percent more likely than non-managers to report experiencing tension/conflict at work.
Comments from president and chief executive officer, Stephen Liptrap
“Even as we move past the initial challenges of navigating the pandemic, we still continue to see its impact, especially on children. This is not only a concern for children, but also their caregivers, which can impact the ability of those caregivers to focus on work. It is important to remember that resources such as employee and family assistance programs support the whole family and not just workers. This support is especially important as a new school year begins.”
Comments from global leader and senior vice president, research and total wellbeing, Paula Allen
“We will be seeing the fallout and disruption of the last two years impact people in many ways. Our research showed that people are more sensitive to stress and that these feelings are driving conflict for those dealing with the public in customer service roles. Now we are seeing tension and conflict in more workplaces. This situation can impact both employee wellbeing and work productivity in a profound way. Workplace training and effective communication are critical at this point, as are the resources people can use to deal with their underlying stress before it creates relationship challenges.”
The full United States LifeWorks Mental Health Index™ report can be found here. This month, the report includes additional insights on the impacts of increased aggression and conflict, housing security, managers' and employees’ perspective on working from home, and safety at the workplace. To receive LifeWorks Mental Health Index™ every month, subscribe here.
About the Mental Health Index™
The monthly survey by LifeWorks was conducted through an online survey from July 7 to July 13, 2022, with 5,000 respondents in the United States. All respondents reside in the United States and were employed within the last six months. The data has been statistically weighted to ensure the regional and gender composition of the sample reflect this population. The Mental Health Index™ is published monthly, beginning April 2020, and compares against benchmark data collected in 2017, 2018, 2019.
Beginning in May 2022, corresponding to the third year of the Mental Health Index™ by LifeWorks, scores are represented as absolute. To create the Mental Health Index™, a response scoring system is applied to turn individual responses into point values. Higher point values are associated with better mental health and less mental health risk. Scores between 0 to 49 correspond with distress levels, scores between 50 to 79 correspond with strain levels and scores between 80 to 100 correspond with optimal levels.
About LifeWorks
LifeWorks is a world leader in providing digital and in-person solutions that support the total wellbeing of individuals – mental, physical, financial, and social. As the trusted leader in mental health and wellbeing, LifeWorks delivers a personalized continuum of care that helps our clients improve the lives of their people and by doing so, improve their business. Guided by our purpose to improve lives and improve business, we help our clients improve the wellbeing of their people, we help them improve workforce engagement and productivity, thereby improving the performance of our clients’ organizations. LifeWorks is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: LWRK). The Company has approximately 7,000 employees, 25,000 clients, and serves 36 million individuals and their families around in more than 160 countries.
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