COGNITIVE COPING AND PERSPECTIVE-TAKING AMONG OLDER ADULTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

Abstract

Abstract In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults report engaging in coping to manage sources of pandemic stress (e.g., loneliness, reduced healthcare access, ageism). Variability in cognitive coping strategies, however, has not been explored through an ecological model lens. In this study, we interviewed older adults online in the northeastern US (N=33, age 63-92) regarding stress and coping strategies during the pandemic, using the taxonomy of cognitive strategies from the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Consistent with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, stress and cognitive coping were qualitatively coded using NVivo in reference to individual, immediate environment (microsystem), connections between environments (mesosystem), and societal (macrosystem) factors. Microsystem-level stressors were prevalent and endorsed in all interviews, but stress was reported at multiple ecological levels. Common microsystem stressors included changes to work/personal life, travel restrictions, and loss of face-to-face socialization. Many participants reported engaging in adaptive cognitive coping (87%), with perspective-taking being one of the most common strategies (78%). Perspective-taking was endorsed across all levels of the ecological model (e.g., comparing the pandemic to other personal experiences, considering family-level resilience, and reflecting on impact to community). The multi-level structure of pandemic stress and coping highlights that older adults subjectively experience stress simultaneously at multiple ecological levels. In turn, they confront stressors using individualized patterns of cognitive coping that extend beyond intrapersonal experience/insight to help fully contextualize the COVID-19 experience. Future studies should explore the use of perspective-taking at intra- and interpersonal levels as integrated coping approaches for managing naturalistic stressors in daily life.