Social Isolation and Loneliness during COVID-19 Lockdown: Associations with Depressive Symptoms in the German Old-Age Population.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 18(7)2021 03 31.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1160297
ABSTRACT
Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic increase the risk of social isolation and loneliness, which may affect mental wellbeing. Therefore, we aimed to investigate associations between social isolation and loneliness with depressive symptoms in the German old-age population during the first COVID-19 lockdown. A representative sample of randomly selected individuals at least 65 years old (n = 1005) participated in a computer-assisted standardized telephone interview in April 2020. Sociodemographic data, aspects of the personal life situation, attitudes towards COVID-19 and standardized screening measures on loneliness (UCLA 3-item loneliness scale), depression (Brief Symptom Inventory/BSI-18), and resilience (Brief Resilience Scale/BRS) were assessed. Associations were inspected using multivariate regression models. Being lonely, but not isolated (ß = 0.276; p < 0.001) and being both isolated and lonely (ß = 0.136; p < 0.001) were associated with higher depressive symptoms. Being isolated, but not lonely was not associated with depressive symptoms. Thus, the subjective emotional evaluation, i.e., feeling lonely, of the social situation during lockdown seems more relevant than the objective state, i.e., being isolated. Normal (ß = -0.203; p < 0.001) and high resilience (ß = -0.308; p < 0.001) were associated with lower depressive symptoms across groups. Therefore, strengthening coping skills may be a support strategy during lockdowns, especially for lonely older individuals.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Depression
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Aged
/
Humans
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph18073615
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