Despite often being tagged as the most social of the age groups, Jewish youths in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were found to be the most lonely during the coronavirus outbreak according to a Brandeis University study.
The study, conducted from May 19 to June 15 of this year, documented the impacts of the pandemic on the Pittsburgh Jewish community, and found that while the youth were the most affected during those dates, mostly owing to the mental health decline caused by social distancing, the elderly had a much easier time both in this area and overall.
The statistics are part of study called “Building Resilient Jewish Communities,” conducted by the Marilyn and Maurice Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University’s Steinhardt Social Research Center, and paid for through a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation, The Jewish Chronicle reported.
Mental health in people aged 18-34 has been severely impacted as a result of stress caused by the coronavirus than originally predicted, according to Raimy Rubin, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s manager of impact management.
He added that "troubling numbers [were shown] when it came to their response about how they are coping with the pandemic and if they felt they required mental health services,” Rubin said.
More than just loneliness, mental health "red flags" were raised all around the mental health effects felt by that group, according to Rubin, who added that the data should only be considered in comparison with other age groups.
Rubin explained that “we can definitely say with confidence that that’s the demographic [young adults] that we need to focus on in terms of mental health.”
For example, only 2% of the 34-49 year-old demographic said they didn't receive adequate mental health services during that time, a number which seemingly paled next to the nearly one in ten (9%) of the younger demographic who admitted the same thing. Meanwhile only 1% of the 50-74 demographic felt similarly, while the number drops to 0% above the 75 and above age group.
In fact, seniors overall seamed to have handled the coronavirus outbreak relatively well during that time, the Chronicle reported. Social isolation, for instance, was not a major stressors for the demographic. Those numbers are in line with a other national findings, according to Rubin. However, he credited the Pittsburgh Jewish community with making sure that seniors weren't socially isolated under the understanding that they were a "high-risk group."
Seniors also reported little stress over their financial situation, which like the social distancing, the younger demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds had more stress over, including concern for their financial future.
The study found that the group most in need of economic assistance were those that were in in need prior to the outbreak, according to Rubin.
"For the people who were in need before the pandemic. Those that were in need before got hit the worst," Rubin said.
However, otherwise, the overall community fared financially well, and while those that considered themselves to be fairly well off may have had some financial downturn and misfortune during the formative weeks in the outbreak of May and June, there wasn't much growth in financial assistance need, according to the Chronicle.
“I was surprised to hear there wasn’t a lot of new need,” said Aviva Lubowsky, the director of marketing and development for Hebrew Free Loan Association of Pittsburgh. “That may speak to the fact that the Jewish community as a whole has more resources available. I think that there are some protective elements in the Jewish community.”