Subjective dignity and self-reported health: Results from the United States before and during the Covid-19 pandemic

AIMS: To describe disparities in depressive symptoms and self-rated health with a novel, individual-level measure of subjective dignity administered before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: National survey data were collected across the United States by the Gallup Organization in Spring (2017) (n ​= ​1459) and again in Spring (2021) (n ​= ​1244). Subjective dignity is measured by self-reported perceptions of dignity in one’s own life. Numerous demographic subgroups constructed across age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, income, urbanicity, labor force status, and political background are used to test for robustness of dignity-health associations within and across years. RESULTS: All demographic subgroups studied reported numeric decreases in dignity from 2017 to 2021, with many of these decreases being both large and significant. With few group-year exceptions, subjective dignity relates to lower levels of depression and higher self-rated health, with dignity-depression associations significantly increasing from 2017 to 2021. CONCLUSIONS: Dignity, as a pluralistic moral concept, is purported to anchor legal, human rights, and cultural discourses on justice, equity, and social inclusion. This study provides timely, original evidence that subjective appraisals of dignity should be considered as a public health indicator, especially across periods of societal unrest or adversity. Given groupwise robustness of dignity-health associations as documented here, subgroup determinants and lay definitions of dignity may merit closer attention.