More than half of U.S. adults are afraid of illness, violence, saving for retirement, and government corruption
2020 was a difficult year full of extraordinary events that left many Americans reeling.A raging pandemic, an economic recession, a contested election and a dramatic insurrection. These were just a few events that had tensions running high nationwide.
As such, we wanted to gauge how Americans approached their fears and managed their stress in 2020. Our research into the experiences of 2,000 people from all walks of life have created a snapshot of what Americans most feared during one of the most difficult years to date.Americans’ Top 10 Fears, 2021
- Loved ones dying
- Loved ones becoming seriously ill
- Mass shootings
- Not having enough money for retirement
- Terrorism
- Government corruption
- Becoming terminally ill
- Hate crimes
- High medical bills
- Widespread civil unrest
- 45 percent of people are experiencing more daily anxiety and fear than they were 12 months ago;
- After a year of isolation and conflict, the idea of losing loved ones generates a great deal of fear: 65 percent were afraid of the death of a loved one, and 1 in 5 people were afraid of losing relationships due to political differences.
- Fears varied greatly along political lines: conservatives are more frightened of gun restrictions than gun violence, and are more afraid of communism than the death of loved ones; liberals fear fascism more than car crashes or physical assault.
The Most Stressful Year on Record: An Overview
2020 has been labeled the most stressful year on record, and the American Psychological Association said rampant anxiety has become a national mental health emergency. Our research indicated that even a year later, that stress hadn’t improved much.Only 29 percent of respondents said their daily anxiety was down in 2021 as opposed to 2020, and 45 percent said it had increased. This increasing stress has physical consequences, too. About 39 percent of respondents said they were losing sleep at least once a week between 2021 and 2022.
To identify which factors fueled this anxiety, we asked participants to record their level of fear in relation to 41 different issues across seven categories: health, relationships, finances, politics, environment, crime, and other fears. We compiled their responses into a fear index measuring average apprehension on an ascending scale between one and 100, indicating the highest level of fear.Relationships: Americans Fear Death of Their Loved Ones as Well as Political Division
With nearly 1.2 million fatalities to date attributed to COVID-19, it’s not surprising that illness, death, and relationship issues dominated American’s concerns. The only two fears in our research that registered a fear score over 90 among the overall population were the fear of a loved one's death and the fear of a loved one becoming seriously ill.Politics: Terrorism, Communism, and Fascism Are Causes for Concern
Headline events continually strained the very fabric of society as police violence, hotly contested elections, and conflicting vaccine information sowed distrust across the political spectrum, perpetuating cycles of conflict and anxiety. Hate crimes and police brutality led to widespread protests, which provoked calls for law and order.
An attack on the U.S. capitol — the first since 1812 — also created new political fears. This series of events created compounding unrest and unease about public safety and stoked fears among Americans.Americans on both sides of the fence shared concern about civil unrest, undue corporate influence, and terrorism. Left and right were also similarly concerned about government corruption, but the form that corruption took was very different depending on personal ideology.
Those with conservative political views were more concerned with the threats of socialism and communism, the potential of firearm restrictions, and government surveillance, while those with more liberal leanings were more concerned with police brutality, hate crime, and the growing threat of fascism. These divergent concerns may be fed by contrasting information bubbles, especially on social media, painting starkly disparate views of the world.Finances: Retirement Savings and Medical Costs Cause Dread
The recent economic recession wreaked havoc in a variety of ways. Lockdowns shuttered businesses and caused widespread unemployment, a stock market crash highlighted the volatility of savings, and hospitalization costs reminded Americans how easily illness could bankrupt them. These situations were likely on Americans’ minds as they considered their top financial fears.Crime: Mass Shootings Down in 2020, but Fear Remains High
Law-abiding citizens may always fear crime, but as American cities experienced an uptick in certain offenses during 2020, such issues seemed more prominent in respondents' minds. Economic hardship, societal anxiety, increased online activity, and renewed debate over the role of police stoked fears of criminal activity.Pro Tip: If having your identity stolen is one of your sources of anxiety, don’t worry — there are plenty of identity theft protection services out there that can keep you safe. With that in mind, though, here are several identity theft protection companies to avoid.
Conclusion
A year dominated by a virus, a recession, and political unrest left American anxieties running high. Medical concerns, financial worries, and deepening political distrust were our most prominent fears, all tied to dire current events. There are signs of hope on the horizon since the darkest days of last year: the invention of Covid-19 vaccines, an improving economy, and a peaceful transfer of presidential power. What remains to be seen is whether these positive steps will quell our fears, bring us together, and allow Americans to sleep peacefully.Our data
We asked 2,083 US adults about their fears. Their response choices were “Not afraid,” “Slightly Afraid,” “Afraid,” or “Very Afraid” across 41 fears in the survey. These choices were used to create a Fear Score for each topic. Fear Scores were determined by ascribing a value from 0 (Not Afraid) to 3 (Very Afraid) for each response and then representing the total score for each fear as a percentage of the total value had every respondent had answered “Afraid” (Nx2).Rank | Fear | Fear score | Percent "afraid" or "very afraid" |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Loved ones dying | 94 | 65% |
2 | Loved ones becoming seriously ill | 93 | 64% |
3 | Mass shootings | 89 | 60% |
4 | Not having enough money for retirement | 80 | 54% |
5 | Terrorism | 79 | 50% |
6 | Corrupt government officials | 78 | 52% |
7 | Personally becoming seriously ill | 78 | 50% |
8 | Hate crimes | 77 | 51% |
9 | High medical bills | 76 | 51% |
10 | Widespread civil unrest | 75 | 49% |
11 | Car crash | 72 | 45% |
12 | Snakes | 71 | 45% |
13 | Fascism | 70 | 45% |
14 | Losing access to clean air | 67 | 43% |
15 | Losing access to drinking water | 66 | 42% |
16 | Identity theft | 65 | 38% |
17 | Police brutality | 64 | 42% |
18 | Plastic waste buildup | 63 | 40% |
19 | Being hit by a drunk driver | 62 | 38% |
20 | Losing home to a natural disaster | 62 | 38% |
21 | Unable to pay rent/mortgage | 62 | 40% |
22 | Corporations influencing government | 61 | 38% |
23 | Robbery or burglary | 61 | 35% |
24 | Never paying off debt | 61 | 40% |
25 | Being physically assaulted | 60 | 37% |
26 | Government tracking personal data | 60 | 36% |
27 | Being alone | 58 | 37% |
28 | Spiders | 56 | 32% |
29 | Plane crash | 56 | 34% |
30 | Losing your job | 53 | 33% |
31 | Stock market crashing | 52 | 30% |
32 | Communism | 49 | 30% |
33 | Unfaithful partner | 43 | 28% |
34 | Workplace automation | 42 | 24% |
35 | Being the victim of domestic abuse | 37 | 24% |
36 | Firearm restrictions | 37 | 24% |
37 | Relationships lost to political/social differences | 37 | 20% |
38 | Needles | 35 | 18% |
39 | Lightning strikes | 34 | 19% |
40 | Ghosts | 31 | 17% |
41 | Being abducted by aliens | 17 | 10% |