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Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic()

Studies show that older adults were lonelier during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic. This may be due in part to guidelines particularly recommending that older adults stay at home, given their elevated risk of COVID-19 complications. However, little is known about the extent to which this popula...

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Autores principales: Compernolle, Ellen L., Finch, Laura E., Hawkley, Louise C., Cagney, Kate A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier Ltd. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8902055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35278830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114881
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author Compernolle, Ellen L.
Finch, Laura E.
Hawkley, Louise C.
Cagney, Kate A.
author_facet Compernolle, Ellen L.
Finch, Laura E.
Hawkley, Louise C.
Cagney, Kate A.
author_sort Compernolle, Ellen L.
collection PubMed
description Studies show that older adults were lonelier during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic. This may be due in part to guidelines particularly recommending that older adults stay at home, given their elevated risk of COVID-19 complications. However, little is known about the extent to which this population experienced greater intensity in momentary loneliness during versus before the pandemic, and how this relates to their real-time contexts. Here, we build upon recent findings from the Chicago Health and Activity Space in Real-Time (CHART) study that revealed associations between momentary contexts and loneliness among older adults. We analyze ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) from both pre- and during COVID-19 among a subsample of CHART respondents (N = 110 older adults age 65–88 in 2020). Pre-pandemic data were collected across three waves from April 2018–October 2019, and pandemic data were collected across three additional waves from June–September 2020. Participants responded to smartphone “pings” (five per day for 7 days per wave; N = 5596 and N = 7826 before and during the pandemic, respectively) by reporting their momentary loneliness and context (e.g., home). Findings from multi-level regression models suggest that respondents were lonelier in mid-2020 than in years prior, as well as when at home and alone; they were also more likely to be at home during the pandemic. However, the loneliness-inducing effects of being at home (vs. outside the home) and alone (vs. with others) were weaker during versus before COVID-19. Results provide important nuance to broader trends in loneliness among older adults during the pandemic. Specifically, older adults may have adopted new technologies to support social connectedness. It is also possible that, during a time in which social and physical distancing characterized public health guidelines, these contexts grew less isolating as they became a shared experience, or that publicly shared spaces provided fewer opportunities for social engagement.
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spelling pubmed-89020552022-03-08 Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic() Compernolle, Ellen L. Finch, Laura E. Hawkley, Louise C. Cagney, Kate A. Soc Sci Med Article Studies show that older adults were lonelier during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic. This may be due in part to guidelines particularly recommending that older adults stay at home, given their elevated risk of COVID-19 complications. However, little is known about the extent to which this population experienced greater intensity in momentary loneliness during versus before the pandemic, and how this relates to their real-time contexts. Here, we build upon recent findings from the Chicago Health and Activity Space in Real-Time (CHART) study that revealed associations between momentary contexts and loneliness among older adults. We analyze ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) from both pre- and during COVID-19 among a subsample of CHART respondents (N = 110 older adults age 65–88 in 2020). Pre-pandemic data were collected across three waves from April 2018–October 2019, and pandemic data were collected across three additional waves from June–September 2020. Participants responded to smartphone “pings” (five per day for 7 days per wave; N = 5596 and N = 7826 before and during the pandemic, respectively) by reporting their momentary loneliness and context (e.g., home). Findings from multi-level regression models suggest that respondents were lonelier in mid-2020 than in years prior, as well as when at home and alone; they were also more likely to be at home during the pandemic. However, the loneliness-inducing effects of being at home (vs. outside the home) and alone (vs. with others) were weaker during versus before COVID-19. Results provide important nuance to broader trends in loneliness among older adults during the pandemic. Specifically, older adults may have adopted new technologies to support social connectedness. It is also possible that, during a time in which social and physical distancing characterized public health guidelines, these contexts grew less isolating as they became a shared experience, or that publicly shared spaces provided fewer opportunities for social engagement. Elsevier Ltd. 2022-04 2022-03-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8902055/ /pubmed/35278830 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114881 Text en © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Compernolle, Ellen L.
Finch, Laura E.
Hawkley, Louise C.
Cagney, Kate A.
Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic()
title Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic()
title_full Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic()
title_fullStr Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic()
title_full_unstemmed Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic()
title_short Home alone together: Differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from Chicago during versus before the COVID-19 pandemic()
title_sort home alone together: differential links between momentary contexts and real-time loneliness among older adults from chicago during versus before the covid-19 pandemic()
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8902055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35278830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114881
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