Closeness to friends explains age differences in positive emotional experience during the lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic

Alessia Rosi,Elena Cavallini,Luca Ronchi,Irene Ceccato,Filippo Rapisarda,Serena Lecce,Floris Tijmen van Vugt,Tomaso Vecchi,Martine Vallarino

doi:10.1007/s40520-021-01927-7

Abstract

BackgroundStudies on age differences in emotional states during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that older adults experienced greater emotional wellbeing compared to younger adults. We hypothesized these age differences to be related to the perception of closeness to family/friends or the engagement in daily activities during the pandemic.AimTo investigate age differences in positive and negative emotional experiences and whether the perception of closeness to family/friends and the engagement in daily activities during pandemic explained such age-related differences.MethodsThrough a cross-sectional study, 1,457 adults aged 18–87 years old completed an online survey assessing positive and negative emotional experiences, the perception of more closeness to family/friends, and daily activities that participants started/re-started during the pandemic.ResultsIncreasing age was associated with more positive and less negative emotional experiences. Age differences in positive emotional experience were explained by the perception of more closeness to friends and not by the engagement in daily activities. For negative emotional experience age, differences remained significant even after accounting for the perception of closeness to family/friends and engagements in daily activities.DiscussionOlder adults’ greater overall level of positive emotional experience was explained by their greater perception of more closeness to friends. We speculate that social closeness provides a coping mechanism to increase emotional wellbeing employed especially in older adults.ConclusionOur findings reinforce the link between perceived social closeness and emotional wellbeing especially in older adults. To cope with stressful situation, it is important to encourage older adults to increase the closeness to their social network.

Highlights

The spread of COVID-19 pandemic provided the opportunity for researchers to answer several questions that experimentally would not be possible to investigate, such as the emotional impact in aging during a prolonged period of isolation and the resulting stress and concern
We found that age was positively correlated with positive emotional experience, and negatively with negative emotional experience
Looking at the association between positive emotional experience and the perception of more closeness to family and friends during the pandemic, older adults reported feeling more closeness to friends and family compared to what younger individuals have felt (Hypothesis 2 supported)

Summary

Introduction

The spread of COVID-19 pandemic provided the opportunity for researchers to answer several questions that experimentally would not be possible to investigate, such as the emotional impact in aging during a prolonged period of isolation and the resulting stress and concern. Research conducted during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak reported that older adults exhibited greater emotional wellbeing compared to their younger counterparts [1,2,3,4,5] These studies showed that older participants report less depression and anxiety [1] compared to younger adults, as well as less negative and more positive emotions [2,3,4,5]. Studies on age differences in emotional states during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that older adults experienced greater emotional wellbeing compared to younger adults We hypothesized these age differences to be related to the perception of closeness to family/friends or the engagement in daily activities during the pandemic. To cope with stressful situation, it is important to encourage older adults to increase the closeness to their social network

Methods

Results

Conclusion