Inequalities Project Update | Coronavirus Visualization Team
The Inequalities Project’s main objective is to investigate the pandemic’s effect on various populations across the United States. Specifically, the project seeks to identify disparities in mental health, education, and food access. Through research and collaboration, the team works to publish data visualizations and articles that reflect their findings.
“Our project understands that situations like the pandemic impact different populations in different ways. We hope to shine light on these inequalities in an attempt to guide service organizations to the populations that need their resources the most,” says Caitlyn Tran, co-lead of the Inequalities Project.
The COVID-19 has exacerbated the economic, social, and cultural disparities amongst communities all across America. With widespread awareness of the issue, society can begin to address it holistically.
Project Restructuring — Future Aims
Initially, members of the Inequalities project divided into three sub-projects: Mental Health, Education, and Food Inequality. The mental health project examined the correlation between COVID-19 and declining mental health, specifically focusing on vulnerable households. The education project strove to understand how the lack of access to e-learning and school-provided meals further disadvantages under-resourced populations during the pandemic. The food insecurity project worked to create visualizations and write articles to inform the mass public (as well as nonprofit food entities) on the demographics and impacts of food insecurity. Each sub-project worked in individual teams in an attempt to contribute to the larger Inequalities initiative.
Throughout 2021, member retention rates slowly began to decline, and each team’s activity fell below its prime. As a result, the Inequalities Project’s co-leads- Caitlyn Tran, Alicia Loui, and Regina Liu- came to the executive decision to recombine all sub-projects into one larger initiative. This decision has helped to maximize the remaining member efforts.
In the meantime, the Inequalities Project will continue to be publishing articles and data visualizations that examine the socioeconomic disparities exacerbated by COVID-19. In the future, they hope to carry out a long-term research project that will involve a research survey distributed to the public. After analyzing this survey’s results, the end goal will be to write a comprehensive research paper for eventual publishment in an acclaimed scientific journal.
This long-term goal is highly dependent on the time commitment and activity levels of members.
Visualization Analysis
The Inequalities Project has previously published many visualizations examining the impact of education, race, gender, and age on mental health (specifically anxiety and depression rates).
In the first two weeks of October, the Inequalities Project published the visualization above regarding the mental health of individuals over 80 years. During this time, most participants reported feeling symptoms of anxiety “not at all,” with “several days” trailing far behind. The data distribution was identical for depression rates amongst the elderly. After analyzing this visualization, it is evident that the pandemic hasn’t had a severe emotional impact on individuals older than 80.
White individuals have reported significantly more symptoms of depression than any other race (depicted in the visualization above). Over 12 million White participants reported feeling down, depressed, or hopeless “nearly every day,” with the majority reporting feeling these symptoms “several days.” Project Inequalities is interested in doing more research as to why this discrepancy is so vast.
Evidently, more females (approximately 129 million) report experiencing symptoms of anxiety compared to males (approximately 121 million), depicted in the visualization above. Over ten million more females than males report feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge “nearly every day.” This discrepancy could be due to women’s roles as caretakers in the home, alongside their responsibilities in the workplace. Pressure of these societal norms may be a large contributing factor to increased rates of anxiety.
After examining the correlation between education level and anxiety rates, the data distribution between individuals with a high school degree, some college degree, and a Bachelor’s degree is nearly identical. Those with some college degree report anxiety symptoms “nearly every day” at the highest frequency. Those with less than a high school degree report anxiety symptoms at a significantly lower frequency.
More data visualizations are currently underway, and Project Inequalities is excited to continue their research!
Recruitment Needs
Currently, the Inequalities Project is open to all members willing to demonstrate time and commitment to the project’s initiatives. There is always work that can be done. If you are interested in this project and would like to apply to be a member of the Coronavirus Visualization Team as a whole, please fill out this form below!
The CVT is always on the lookout for partnerships and project collaborations with organizations who seek data we can use. We welcome organizations that are willing to provide mentorship and resources to help us fulfill our mission. If you would be interested in collaborating and/or mentoring Project Inequalities with any of their initiatives, please email us at coronavirusvisualizationteam@gmail.com.
Thank you for reading this project update!
