Social Impact

For more than a year now and in an effort to try and curb the spread of COVID-19, health experts have urged everyone to limit their social bubbles and personal interactions. Jepson School of Leadership Studies professor Don Forsyth is a social psychologist and an expert on group interactions. He says it's important to keep in mind what those important safety meaures have meant for our social well-being.

"We're still waiting on the data on how people coped and if they coped successfully: levels of depression, anxiety, suicide, long-term, negative emotional consequences caused by the pandemic in general," said Forsyth. "I think people realize just how critical social contact is. I don't think people realized it before; it was just taken for granted; it's the air we breathe."

Contact Cynthia Price, AVP for media and public relations, at cprice2@richmond.edu to connect with Forsyth.