Feeling Lonely, Engaging Online During the Outbreak of COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study of Chinese Older Adults

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is growing concern that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated social distancing policies may exacerbate mental health problems in older adults. Most studies primarily have focused on developed countries, whereas the mental consequences of the pandemic in developing countries are less well known. This study evaluates the influences of the global pandemic in relation to loneliness and family contact among older Chinese adults and examines the roles of internet adoption in alleviating the emotional experience of loneliness. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We run individual fixed effects regression models using the 2018 and 2020 waves of the Chinese Family Panel Studies survey with 4,944 respondents aged 60 and above to capture the average within-person changes before and after the first outbreak of COVID-19 in China. We further examine the mediating effects of internet adoption on loneliness using structural equation modeling (SEM). Simultaneous SEM tested the effects of internet literacy and social network site use, and heterogeneous effects analyses were also conducted across subgroups. RESULTS: Fixed effects estimates indicated increased loneliness and decreased family contact during the pandemic. Moreover, more older adults were found to use the internet in 2020. The fixed-effect estimations and structural equation models consistently found that older adults’ use of the internet contributed to more social contacts and virtual meetings with their children, which have alleviated the emotional experience of loneliness. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Digital inclusion of older adults to adopt the internet can be beneficial to improve mental well-being and alleviate loneliness during times of pandemic crisis. The targeted acceleration of digitalization to reduce the digital divide needs to be considered.