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Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Experiences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its implications for psychological well-being may vary widely across the adult life span. The present study examined age differences in pandemic-related stress and social ties, and links with psychological...

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Autores principales: Birditt, Kira S, Turkelson, Angela, Fingerman, Karen L, Polenick, Courtney A, Oya, Akari
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7799124/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33346806
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaa204
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author Birditt, Kira S
Turkelson, Angela
Fingerman, Karen L
Polenick, Courtney A
Oya, Akari
author_facet Birditt, Kira S
Turkelson, Angela
Fingerman, Karen L
Polenick, Courtney A
Oya, Akari
author_sort Birditt, Kira S
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Experiences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its implications for psychological well-being may vary widely across the adult life span. The present study examined age differences in pandemic-related stress and social ties, and links with psychological well-being. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants included 645 adults (43% women) aged 18–97 (M = 50.8; SD = 17.7) from the May 2020 nationally representative Survey of Consumers. Participants reported the extent to which they felt stress related to the pandemic in the last month, the extent to which their lives had changed due to the pandemic, as well as social isolation, negative relationship quality, positive relationship quality, and frequency of depression, anxiety, and rumination in the past week. RESULTS: Results showed that older people reported less pandemic-related stress, less life change, less social isolation, and lower negative relationship quality than younger people. Greater pandemic-related stress, life change, social isolation, and negative relationship quality were associated with poorer psychological well-being. Poorer social ties (i.e., greater social isolation and negative quality) exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (stress, life change) on psychological well-being. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Researchers have indicated that older adults may be more vulnerable to COVID-19 pandemic-related stress and social isolation, but this study indicates that young adults may be relatively more vulnerable. Because isolation and negative relationship quality appear to exacerbate the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological well-being, reducing social isolation and negative relations are potential targets for intervention.
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spelling pubmed-77991242021-01-25 Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being Birditt, Kira S Turkelson, Angela Fingerman, Karen L Polenick, Courtney A Oya, Akari Gerontologist Special Issue: Gerontology in a Time of Pandemic, Part II BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Experiences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its implications for psychological well-being may vary widely across the adult life span. The present study examined age differences in pandemic-related stress and social ties, and links with psychological well-being. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants included 645 adults (43% women) aged 18–97 (M = 50.8; SD = 17.7) from the May 2020 nationally representative Survey of Consumers. Participants reported the extent to which they felt stress related to the pandemic in the last month, the extent to which their lives had changed due to the pandemic, as well as social isolation, negative relationship quality, positive relationship quality, and frequency of depression, anxiety, and rumination in the past week. RESULTS: Results showed that older people reported less pandemic-related stress, less life change, less social isolation, and lower negative relationship quality than younger people. Greater pandemic-related stress, life change, social isolation, and negative relationship quality were associated with poorer psychological well-being. Poorer social ties (i.e., greater social isolation and negative quality) exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (stress, life change) on psychological well-being. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Researchers have indicated that older adults may be more vulnerable to COVID-19 pandemic-related stress and social isolation, but this study indicates that young adults may be relatively more vulnerable. Because isolation and negative relationship quality appear to exacerbate the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological well-being, reducing social isolation and negative relations are potential targets for intervention. Oxford University Press 2020-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC7799124/ /pubmed/33346806 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaa204 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
spellingShingle Special Issue: Gerontology in a Time of Pandemic, Part II
Birditt, Kira S
Turkelson, Angela
Fingerman, Karen L
Polenick, Courtney A
Oya, Akari
Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being
title Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being
title_full Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being
title_fullStr Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being
title_full_unstemmed Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being
title_short Age Differences in Stress, Life Changes, and Social Ties During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Psychological Well-Being
title_sort age differences in stress, life changes, and social ties during the covid-19 pandemic: implications for psychological well-being
topic Special Issue: Gerontology in a Time of Pandemic, Part II
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7799124/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33346806
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnaa204
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