The Effect of COVID-19 on Loneliness in the Elderly. An Empirical Comparison of Pre-and Peri-Pandemic Loneliness in Community-Dwelling Elderly

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Theresa Heidinger¹  Lukas Richter¹ 

[1] Division of Gerontology and Health Research, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences;Institute for Sociology and Social Research, Vienna University of Economics and Business

关键词: loneliness;    elderly;    Covid-19;    propensity score matching;    health and well-being;    comparative analysis;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.585308

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Old-age loneliness is a global problem with many members of the scientific community suspecting increased loneliness in the elderly population during COVID-19 and the associated safety measures. Although hypothesized, a direct comparison of loneliness before and during the pandemic is hard to achieve without a survey of loneliness prior to the pandemic. This study provides a direct comparison of reported loneliness before and during the pandemic using 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) on a pre- and a peri-pandemic sample of elderly (60+ years) individuals from Lower Austria, a county of Austria (Europe). Differences on a loneliness index computed from the short De Jong Gierveld scale were found to be significant, evidencing that loneliness in the elderly population had in fact risen slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated safety measures. Although the reported loneliness remained rather low, this result illustrated the effect of the “new normal” under COVID-19. As loneliness is a risk factor for physical and mental illness, this result is important in planning the future handling of the pandemic, as safety measures seem to have a negative impact on loneliness. This work confirms the anticipated increase in loneliness in the elderly population during COVID-19.

【 授权许可】

CC BY