Abstract
Loneliness is a major public health issue, with its prevalence rising during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and mandated “social distancing” practices. A 2020 global study (n = 46,054) found that, in comparison to women, men experienced the greatest levels of loneliness. Although research on predictors of loneliness during COVID-19 is increasing, little is known about the characteristics of men who may be particularly vulnerable. Studies using prospective data are needed to inform preventative measures to support men at risk of loneliness. The current study draws on rare longitudinal data from an Australian cohort of men in young to mid-adulthood (n = 283; aged M = 34.6, SD = 1.38 years) to examine 25 pre-pandemic psychosocial predictors of loneliness during COVID-19 social restrictions (March–September 2020). Adjusted linear regressions identified 22 pre-pandemic predictors of loneliness across a range of trait-based, relational, career/home and mental health variables. Given the extensive set of predictors, we then conducted penalized regression models (LASSO), a machine learning approach, allowing us to identify the best fitting multivariable set of predictors of loneliness during the pandemic. In these models, men's sense of pre-pandemic environmental mastery emerged as the strongest predictor of loneliness. Depression, neuroticism and social support also remained key predictors of pandemic loneliness (R2 = 26, including covariates). Our findings suggest that men's loneliness can be detected prospectively and under varying levels of social restriction, presenting possible targets for prevention efforts for those most vulnerable.
Highlights
Loneliness is a preventable public health issue and has been linked to mental illness, suicide, poor health behaviors, and premature death [1, 2]
At the trait-based level, neuroticism, trait anger, and perfectionism were positively associated with loneliness during the pandemic (β range = 0.19–0.43), while extraversion, conscientiousness, were negatively associated (β range = −0.15 to −0.26)
Hours spent with friends, social support, and retrospective accounts of parental care were negatively associated with pandemic loneliness (β range = −0.16 to −0.40), while retrospective accounts of parental control were positively associated (β range = 0.15–0.16)
Summary
Loneliness is a preventable public health issue and has been linked to mental illness, suicide, poor health behaviors, and premature death [1, 2]. It is characterized by a perceived lack of social support and a sense of social disconnection [3, 4] and is often stigmatized or trivialized [5]. Much of the research to date on loneliness during the pandemic has focused on adolescents [10], or older adults [11,12,13,14,15] or has been limited to investigations of demographic factors [16]. We extend this work to identify psychosocial factors among men in their youngto mid-adult years who maybe vulnerable [17, 18]
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