Social Isolation and Loneliness during COVID-19 Lockdown: Associations with Depressive Symptoms in the German Old-Age Population.

Felix Müller,Susanne Röhr,Steffi G Riedel-Heller,Ulrich Reininghaus

doi:10.3390/ijerph18073615

Abstract

Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic increase the risk of social isolation and loneliness, which may affect mental wellbeing. Therefore, we aimed to investigate associations between social isolation and loneliness with depressive symptoms in the German old-age population during the first COVID-19 lockdown. A representative sample of randomly selected individuals at least 65 years old (n = 1005) participated in a computer-assisted standardized telephone interview in April 2020. Sociodemographic data, aspects of the personal life situation, attitudes towards COVID-19 and standardized screening measures on loneliness (UCLA 3-item loneliness scale), depression (Brief Symptom Inventory/BSI-18), and resilience (Brief Resilience Scale/BRS) were assessed. Associations were inspected using multivariate regression models. Being lonely, but not isolated (β = 0.276; p < 0.001) and being both isolated and lonely (β = 0.136; p < 0.001) were associated with higher depressive symptoms. Being isolated, but not lonely was not associated with depressive symptoms. Thus, the subjective emotional evaluation, i.e., feeling lonely, of the social situation during lockdown seems more relevant than the objective state, i.e., being isolated. Normal (β = −0.203; p < 0.001) and high resilience (β = −0.308; p < 0.001) were associated with lower depressive symptoms across groups. Therefore, strengthening coping skills may be a support strategy during lockdowns, especially for lonely older individuals.

Highlights

Since early 2020, most of the world’s population has been affected by the spread of newly emerged coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) [1]
We aimed to investigate the association between social isolation and loneliness with depressive symptoms and the effects of resilience in the old age population during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany
We investigated the association of social isolation and loneliness with depressive symptoms in the old-age population (≥65 years) during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany

Summary

Introduction

Since early 2020, most of the world’s population has been affected by the spread of newly emerged coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) [1]. Germany was among the early countries with a rapidly increasing number of infections, which made the first lockdown from 22 March 2020 necessary [2]. From this day, various infection control measures in different intensities have continuously been in place. In the governmental infection control concept, social distancing plays a major role. November 2020 on, Germany experienced the second wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic with a total number of more than 2,100.000 infections and 92,457 detected infections over a period of seven days [3].

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