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Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted social and economic aspects of people’s lives in different ways, causing them to experience different levels of loneliness. This study examines the extent of loneliness among men and women of various ages in Japan during the pandemic and attempts to determine the u...

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Autores principales: Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim, Yuktadatta, Pattaphol, Kadoya, Yoshihiko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9140939/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35627778
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106242
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author Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim
Yuktadatta, Pattaphol
Kadoya, Yoshihiko
author_facet Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim
Yuktadatta, Pattaphol
Kadoya, Yoshihiko
author_sort Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted social and economic aspects of people’s lives in different ways, causing them to experience different levels of loneliness. This study examines the extent of loneliness among men and women of various ages in Japan during the pandemic and attempts to determine the underlying causes. We used data from Hiroshima University’s nationwide survey conducted before and during the pandemic in Japan. The sample consists of 3755 participants, of which 67% are men and 33% are women with an average age of 51 years (SD = 13.64). Using mean comparison tests and probit regression models, we show that loneliness is a common occurrence among the Japanese population and that a significant number of people became lonely for the first time during the pandemic. In general, loneliness was greater among younger respondents, but older people became lonelier during the pandemic. Simultaneously, we observed significant differences in loneliness across age and gender subsamples. Although depression and subjective health status contributed to loneliness, we found no single explanation for the loneliness experienced by people during the pandemic; rather, subsample analysis revealed that the causes of loneliness for each group differed. Nevertheless, we discovered that older people are at a higher risk of developing loneliness during the pandemic due to a variety of socioeconomic and behavioral factors. The findings of this study suggest that health authorities should not generalize cases of loneliness, but rather intervene individually in each group to avoid further complications.
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spelling pubmed-91409392022-05-28 Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim Yuktadatta, Pattaphol Kadoya, Yoshihiko Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted social and economic aspects of people’s lives in different ways, causing them to experience different levels of loneliness. This study examines the extent of loneliness among men and women of various ages in Japan during the pandemic and attempts to determine the underlying causes. We used data from Hiroshima University’s nationwide survey conducted before and during the pandemic in Japan. The sample consists of 3755 participants, of which 67% are men and 33% are women with an average age of 51 years (SD = 13.64). Using mean comparison tests and probit regression models, we show that loneliness is a common occurrence among the Japanese population and that a significant number of people became lonely for the first time during the pandemic. In general, loneliness was greater among younger respondents, but older people became lonelier during the pandemic. Simultaneously, we observed significant differences in loneliness across age and gender subsamples. Although depression and subjective health status contributed to loneliness, we found no single explanation for the loneliness experienced by people during the pandemic; rather, subsample analysis revealed that the causes of loneliness for each group differed. Nevertheless, we discovered that older people are at a higher risk of developing loneliness during the pandemic due to a variety of socioeconomic and behavioral factors. The findings of this study suggest that health authorities should not generalize cases of loneliness, but rather intervene individually in each group to avoid further complications. MDPI 2022-05-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9140939/ /pubmed/35627778 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106242 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim
Yuktadatta, Pattaphol
Kadoya, Yoshihiko
Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan
title Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan
title_full Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan
title_fullStr Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan
title_full_unstemmed Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan
title_short Who Became Lonely during the COVID-19 Pandemic? An Investigation of the Socioeconomic Aspects of Loneliness in Japan
title_sort who became lonely during the covid-19 pandemic? an investigation of the socioeconomic aspects of loneliness in japan
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9140939/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35627778
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106242
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