SOCIAL CONNECTION IN OLDER ARKANSANS DURING COVID-19: CHANGES AND SATISFACTION

Social support is important to the health and well-being of older adults. Changes in social support (both frequency and satisfaction with) and barriers to social support during the pandemic remain unknown. During Spring 2021 an automated phone survey of adults 65 and older in Arkansas was completed. Calls were placed to 27,296 households where 8,745 individuals answered, and 867 (N=723 White, non-Hispanic) older Arkansans completed the 18 question self-report survey. Results indicated that: 41% had curtailed their in-person interactions significantly;61% continued to engage in in-person social interactions outside of their home once a week or more;and social group activities decreased from 52% to 41%. Additionally, it was reported that 88% used technology for social interactions once a week or more and 60% reported technology interactions made them feel socially connected. Despite this, only 67% reported being satisfied with their social connection during the pandemic compared to 93% prior to the pandemic. While many participants continued in-person social interactions, social activity and satisfaction decreased during the pandemic. Social technology alternatives were used by many and for some, social connection was reported to be satisfactory. The value of what was learned from this survey has application outside pandemic times. Understanding and acknowledging that social isolation exists for older adults in normal times and improving technological access to social activities has great value. This knowledge can be used to substantiate the expansion and improvement of older adult friendly virtual platforms therefore contributing to reducing social isolation.

RELATIONSHIP OF EMOTIONS, SOCIAL ISOLATION, AND COVID-RELATED MEDIA TO SUBJECTIVE SLEEP QUALITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic safety restrictions led to changes in social interactions and information seeking about the virus. For some, these led to increased negative emotions, feelings of social isolation, and increased COVID-related media consumption. We examined the relationship of these variables to subjective sleep quality from participant daily diaries kept early in the pandemic. Methods: From April 20th-May 12th, 2020, college (students, faculty/ staff, alumni, parents) and local (churches, community centers, libraries) community members (N=94, 72 women, ages 18-77) completed a 30-minute survey for before and during social distancing (measuring: mental health, personality, social distancing, and demographics) for possible prizes. Participants then completed daily evening and morning diaries for 5-14 days describing daily affect, social isolation, emotion regulation, COVID media consumption, and subjective sleep quality. Results: Emotions: During the pandemic, poor sleep quality was predicted by less positive mood (r(91)=.486, p<.001) and more negative mood (r(91)=-.433, p<.001). Participants with poorer sleep quality reported less success regulating their emotions that day (r(90)=.292, p=.005) and greater suppression of emotions (rather than cognitive reappraisals to regulate them) (r(91)=-.260, p=.012). Social Isolation: Subjective sleep quality was not predicted by social distancing behaviors (r(88)=.069, p>.05);however, poorer sleep quality was significantly predicted by greater daily feelings of social isolation (r(91)=-.264, p=.005) and lower feelings of social life satisfaction (r(91)=.338, p<.001). COVID-related media: Sleep quality was not significantly related to COVID-media consumption for all participants;however, moderation analyses showed that participants with low avoidance coping, low neuroticism, and high emotional well-being did experience poorer sleep quality associated with greater COVID media consumption (all p's<.05). Conclusion: That mood and social isolation are associated with sleep quality replicates previous findings. The pandemic, however, provided a unique opportunity to observe these relationships in individuals not normally socially isolated because of confounding variables (e.g., health issues, depression, anxiety) with known relationships to sleep quality. That COVID-related media was only related to sleep quality for more well-adjusted participants (low avoidance coping, low neuroticism, high emotional well-being) was surprising, suggesting some may find COVID-19 information anxiety-relieving rather than anxiety-provoking.

Changes in sleep hygiene and sleepiness following social distancing related to COVID-19

Introduction: It was expected COVID-19 would result in changes that could impact sleep hygiene and sleep. We examined sleep hygiene and symptoms of disrupted sleep through late April and May and demographic and psychological variables related to vulnerability/ resilience to negative outcomes. Methods: Participants (Part1: N=180, Part2: N=64;ages 18-85) solicited from a college (students, faculty/staff, alumni, parents) and local community (churches, community centers, libraries) completed a 30-minute survey (measures: sleep hygiene (SH), symptoms of sleep disruption, mental health, personality, social distancing, COVID-19 impact/experience, and demographics) for possible prizes. Part 1, April 20th-May 12th, participants answered trait questionnaires and state questionnaires for before and during social distancing, then repeated state questionnaires two weeks later (Part 2). Results: Following initial COVID related changes, 66.1% of participants reported worsening symptoms of sleep disruption, 27.9% reported no change, and 6.3% reported improvements. 40.3% reported worsening SH, 53.5% no change, and 6.3% improvements. At 2-week follow-up, 30.4% of participants shifted from reporting no change to SH improvements over baseline. Overall, participants showed significant worsening of symptoms of sleep disruption (sleepiness, moodiness, avolition, cognitive impairments) and SH behaviors (less consistent bed- and wake-times, more frequently staying too long in bed, more pre-bed alerting activities, more bedtime negative emotion, more use of bed for purposes other than sleep, more active technology use) (d's from .23-1.00). Worsening sleep hygiene with COVID-19 was significantly predicted by younger age (r(157)=.164, p<.05), more avoidant coping (r(151)= -.337, p<.05), lower life satisfaction (r(156)=.200, p<.05) and greater impact/experience of COVID-19 (r(150)= -.270, p<.05). Symptoms of sleep disruption showed similar, but larger, relationships. Conclusion: Initial social distancing may have disrupted routines, added stress, and resulted in worsened sleep and sleep hygiene. Over time some adapted and improved, but most did not. Our results suggest change, especially crises such as a pandemic, may alter established behavior for the worse and/or add significant stress. Without intervention, even the robust, i.e., young, may suffer. Variables identifying those more vulnerable to disrupted sleep following change and those more likely to experience worsening sleep may help identify targets for future interventions.