The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered a number of dramatic social changes, including sheltering in place and job loss for millions of Americans. The African American community has been disproportionately impacted. As African American families struggle with self-quarantine, a faltering economy, and high rates of infection, there is a need for detailed information regarding how they are coping, and a need to identify resources they are successfully or unsuccessfully accessing. This project will build on an on-going longitudinal survey of African Americans living in the South and Midwest to evaluate the effects of the pandemic on family functioning and well-being. Findings will inform policies of governmental and private agencies tasked with providing support to citizens during extreme events. These findings will aid in recovery from the current crisis and provide information as to how to better prepare for another pandemic or similar emergency, thus promoting safety, security and well-being in our society.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately negative impact on the African-American community. This project will investigate the impact of financial hardship and self-quarantine using a longitudinal data set comprised of close to 500 middle-age African Americans living in the South and Midwest (250 married, 74 live alone, 174 live in multigenerational households). This data set currently consists of eight waves of data collected over 25 years, with the most recent wave completed in 2019. It includes data regarding work, economic hardship, family relationships, social support, religious activities, and psychological well-being over several waves, thus forming a baseline in assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These baseline data provide a unique opportunity to assess the degree of change in various domains of life following self-quarantine and unemployment, including emotional well-being (anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness) and, in turn, quality of family interaction and involvement in risky behaviors such as smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, and an unhealthy diet. The project will also analyze whether the pandemic’s impact on economic hardship, family relationships, and emotional well-being vary by social class and by household composition. Findings from the project will inform sociological theories of family functioning, including the family stress model.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
