January 14, 2025
NASHVILLE – Americans making New Year’s resolutions are focusing on their health, finances and relationships, a new survey by Lifeway Research shows.
“New Year’s resolutions reflect the changes people aspire to make,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “The COVID-19 pandemic may have forced or encouraged more people to make changes outside of the annual reminder a new year brings. But a New Year’s resolution is still something most Americans have made at some point in their lives.”
Lifeway surveyed 1,005 Americans, finding that as people contemplate their 2022 resolutions, more than 2 in 5 Americans (44%) say previous New Year’s resolutions have focused on their health. More than 1 in 4 say they’ve made resolutions on their relationship with God (29%), their finances (29%) or their relationship with a family member (26%).
Fewer say their resolutions have dealt with their use of time (22%), their work (18%) or their relationship with a friend (15%).
More than a quarter of Americans (28%) say they haven’t made resolutions about any of these.
This year’s New Year’s resolutions rankings remained similar to a 2015 Lifeway Research phone survey of 1,000 Americans. Compared to the previous study, finances moved from the fifth most common resolution to third on the list this year. The percentage who selected each of the resolution topics, however, dropped from six years ago.
Young adults (those age 18 to 34) are among the most likely to say they’ve made New Year’s resolutions in the past about each of the topics: health (52%), finances (40%), relationship with God (35%), relationship with a family member (36%), use of time (34%), work (29%) and relationship with a friend (25%). Meanwhile, those 65 and older (54%) are most likely to say they have not made a resolution about any of the topics listed.
Church attendance also seems to have an impact on wanting to make changes in the new year. Among self-identified Christians, those who attend at least monthly are more likely than Christians who attend less frequently to say they’ve made resolutions in each of the options. Those who attend less than monthly (44%) are most likely to say they haven’t made a New Year’s resolution in any of the areas.
“Making a New Year’s resolution doesn’t reveal who or what a person is relying on to make that change in their life, nor how successful such resolutions are,” said McConnell. “But higher numbers seen among younger adults, those who attended at least some college, and church-going Christians indicate they have higher motivation to make such changes at least in the form of New Year’s resolutions.”
