Mental Well-Being of Americans among Different Social Classes through the Great Recession: A Chronological Analysis of Economic and Political Events

Abstract

While the economic consequences of the Great Recession are well-studied, the change in the emotions and mood of people from the event has been largely overlooked. Positive mental status, or happiness, is an essential factor beyond economic data to analyze the authentic prosperity of a country. This paper examines this aspect of the effect of the Financial Crisis of 2008. This paper gathered subjective surveys on personal feelings and objective economic data trends from credible databases to infer the individuals' mental status. Moreover, by connecting the change in those time trends to dates of specific governmental acts and programs and social-political events during the recession, this paper observes the nuance in changes in American individual mental well-being and the effects of political and social incidents. Since the condition of each social class differed, the extent of the harmful shock each experienced varied. According to the results, the upper class had the most severe damage yet the fastest recovery in terms of mental status from the recession. Furthermore, the government programs and acts vary in effectiveness: some mitigated the economic shocks but did not provide mental relief, and others vice versa. The impacts of such policies further differed among social classes. This paper provides conclusions that can help scholars better understand the full consequences of the US Great Recession on the lives of Americans and provide implications of effective governmental means to improve public mental well-being.