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Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation

OBJECTIVE: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been concerns that social distancing may negatively impact mental health, particularly with regards to loneliness, depressive symptoms, and suicidality. The current study explored how aspects of social distancing, communication, and onl...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rabasco, Ana, Corcoran, Vincent, Andover, Margaret
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8699668/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34941942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261867
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author Rabasco, Ana
Corcoran, Vincent
Andover, Margaret
author_facet Rabasco, Ana
Corcoran, Vincent
Andover, Margaret
author_sort Rabasco, Ana
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been concerns that social distancing may negatively impact mental health, particularly with regards to loneliness, depressive symptoms, and suicidality. The current study explored how aspects of social distancing, communication, and online support from October 2020 to December 2020 related to loneliness, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. METHOD: Participants (n = 216) who self-identified as having mental health diagnoses were recruited and completed questionnaires online. RESULTS: Findings showed that COVID-19 related social contact, particularly electronic social contact, is associated with decreased loneliness, suicidal ideation, and depression. Online emotional support was significantly associated with decreased loneliness and depressive symptoms. Social distancing practices were not associated with increased loneliness, suicidal ideation, and depression. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the importance of leveraging electronic methods of social connection, especially among individuals who are at risk for suicide or depression.
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spelling pubmed-86996682021-12-24 Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation Rabasco, Ana Corcoran, Vincent Andover, Margaret PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVE: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been concerns that social distancing may negatively impact mental health, particularly with regards to loneliness, depressive symptoms, and suicidality. The current study explored how aspects of social distancing, communication, and online support from October 2020 to December 2020 related to loneliness, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. METHOD: Participants (n = 216) who self-identified as having mental health diagnoses were recruited and completed questionnaires online. RESULTS: Findings showed that COVID-19 related social contact, particularly electronic social contact, is associated with decreased loneliness, suicidal ideation, and depression. Online emotional support was significantly associated with decreased loneliness and depressive symptoms. Social distancing practices were not associated with increased loneliness, suicidal ideation, and depression. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the importance of leveraging electronic methods of social connection, especially among individuals who are at risk for suicide or depression. Public Library of Science 2021-12-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8699668/ /pubmed/34941942 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261867 Text en © 2021 Rabasco et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Rabasco, Ana
Corcoran, Vincent
Andover, Margaret
Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation
title Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation
title_full Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation
title_fullStr Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation
title_full_unstemmed Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation
title_short Alone but not lonely: The relationship between COVID-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation
title_sort alone but not lonely: the relationship between covid-19 social factors, loneliness, depression, and suicidal ideation
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8699668/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34941942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261867
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