Did Social Connection Decline During the First Wave of COVID-19?: The Role of Extraversion

Dunigan Folk,Elizabeth Dunn,Karynna Okabe-Miyamoto,Sonja Lyubomirsky,Brent Donnellan

doi:10.1525/collabra.365

Abstract

In two pre-registered studies, we tracked changes in individuals’ feelings of social connection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both studies capitalized on measures of social connection and well-being obtained prior to the COVID-19 pandemic by recruiting the same participants again in the midst of the pandemic’s upending effects. Study 1 included a sample of undergraduates from a Canadian university (N = 467), and Study 2 included community adults primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom (N = 336). Our results suggest that people experienced relatively little change in feelings of social connection in the face of the initial reshaping of their social lives caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploratory analyses suggested that relatively extraverted individuals exhibited larger declines in social connection. However, after controlling for levels of social connection prior to the pandemic (as pre-registered), the negative effect of extraversion reversed (Study 1) or disappeared (Study 2).

Highlights

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated COVID-19 as a pandemic (WHO, 2020), and less than a month later, approximately 95% of the U.S population had been instructed to stay at home (Mervosh, Lu, & Swales, 2020)
Using a paired-sample t-test, we found that participants reported lower levels of social connection during the COVID-19 pandemic (Time2: M = 3.97, SD = 0.85) than before (Time1: M = 4.11, SD = 0.88), t(466) = 4.19, p
When we controlled for loneliness levels prior to the pandemic, we found no significant relationship between extraversion and loneliness during the pandemic

Summary

Introduction

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated COVID-19 as a pandemic (WHO, 2020), and less than a month later, approximately 95% of the U.S population had been instructed to stay at home (Mervosh, Lu, & Swales, 2020). Depriving people of social contact may substantially reduce their positive feelings of interpersonal closeness and belonging, while increasing loneliness and perceived isolation (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Lee, Draper, & Lee, 2001; Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980; Ryan & Deci, 2000) These subjective feelings of social connection are theoretically distinct from objective social behavior (e.g., number of interactions), the two constructs are related. If humans have a fundamental need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995), they should find alternate ways to satisfy this need when deprived of their usual sources of social connection Consistent with this perspective, people have organized video “happy hours” (e.g., Tiffany, 2020) and cheered with their neighbors for frontline workers (e.g., Hess, 2020). Extraverts may exhibit smaller declines in feelings of social connection compared to their introverted peers

Methods

Results

Conclusion