Social Isolation and Loneliness during COVID-19 Lockdown: Associations with Depressive Symptoms in the German Old-Age Population
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Population
2.2. Measurements
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive Analysis
3.2. Linear Regression Analysis
4. Discussion
Strengths and Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Total | Not Isolated and Not Lonely | Isolated and Not Lonely | Not Isolated and Lonely | Isolated and Lonely | Group Difference (p-Value) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total; n (%) | 993 | 755 (76.1) | 108 (10.9) | 105 (10.6) | 25 (2.5) | |
Sex; n (%) | ||||||
Female | 559 | 396 (70.8) | 72 (12.9) | 72 (12.9) | 19 (3.4) | <0.001 |
Male | 433 | 359 (82.9) | 36 (8.3) | 33 (7.6) | 5 (1.2) | |
Age; M (SD) | 75.5 (7.1) | 75.08 (6.8) | 78.94 (8.01) | 75.02 (7.54) | 75.18 (7.11) | <0.001 |
Education; n (%) | ||||||
Low | 276 | 204 (73.9) | 42 (15.2) | 24 (8.7) | 6 (2.2) | 0.002 |
Middle | 347 | 267 (76.9) | 39 (11.2) | 28 (8.1) | 13 (3.7) | |
High | 355 | 274 (77.2) | 26 (7.3) | 50 (14.1) | 5 (1.4) | |
Marital status; n (%) | ||||||
Married | 555 | 500 (90.1) | 6 (1.1) | 48 (8.6) | 1 (0.2) | <0.001 |
Single | 77 | 45 (58.4) | 18 (23.4) | 11 (14.3) | 3 (3.9) | |
Divorced | 100 | 59 (59.0) | 18 (18.0) | 11 (11.0) | 12 (12.0) | |
Widowed | 258 | 148 (57.4) | 67 (26.0) | 34 (13.2) | 9 (3.5) |
Total | Not Isolated and Not Lonely | Isolated and Not Lonely | Not Isolated and Lonely | Isolated and Lonely | Group Difference (p-Value) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Being worried about COVID-19; n (%) | ||||||
Totally disagree | 107 | 87 (81.3) | 16 (15.0) | 2 (1.9) | 2 (1.9) | 0.002 |
Disagree | 128 | 90 (70.3) | 24 (18.8) | 12 (9.4) | 2 (1.6) | |
Neutral | 226 | 172 (76.1) | 26 (11.5) | 21 (9.3) | 7 (3.1) | |
Agree | 173 | 138 (79.8) | 10 (5.8) | 24 (13.9) | 1 (0.6) | |
Totally agree | 359 | 268 (74.7) | 33 (9.2) | 46 (12.8) | 12 (3.3) | |
Perceived threat by COVID-19; n (%) | ||||||
Totally disagree | 143 | 108 (75.5) | 22 (15.4) | 11 (7.7) | 2 (1.4) | 0.011 |
Disagree | 207 | 146 (70.5) | 32 (15.5) | 26 (12.6) | 3 (1.4) | |
Neutral | 286 | 230 (80.4) | 26 (9.1) | 23 (8.0) | 7 (2.4) | |
Agree | 125 | 105 (84.0) | 6 (4.8) | 11 (8.8) | 3 (2.4) | |
Totally agree | 230 | 166 (72.2) | 22 (9.6) | 33 (14.3) | 9 (3.9) | |
Being supportive of quarantine measures; n (%) | ||||||
Totally disagree | 7 | 5 (71.4) | 2 (28.6) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.703 |
Disagree | 9 | 6 (66.7) | 1 (11.1) | 1 (11.1) | 1 (11.1) | |
Neutral | 79 | 60 (75.9) | 7 (8.9) | 9 (11.4) | 3 (3.8) | |
Agree | 117 | 90 (76.9) | 9 (7.7) | 15 (12.8) | 3 (2.6) | |
Totally agree | 778 | 591 (76.0) | 90 (11.6) | 80 (10.3) | 17 (2.2) | |
Feeling restricted by quarantine measures; n (%) | ||||||
Totally disagree | 198 | 155 (78.3) | 33 (16.7) | 7 (3.5) | 3 (1.5) | <0.001 |
Disagree | 213 | 175 (82.2) | 22 (10.3) | 14 (6.6) | 2 (0.9) | |
Neutral | 308 | 234 (76.0) | 18 (5.8) | 48 (15.6) | 8 (2.6) | |
Agree | 123 | 88 (71.5) | 12 (9.8) | 20 (16.3) | 3 (2.4) | |
Totally agree | 151 | 102 (67.5) | 22 (14.6) | 17 (11.3) | 10 (6.6) | |
Duration since lockdown; M (SD) | 27.98 (4.76) | 27.97 (4.69) | 28.36 (5.05) | 27.31 (5.17) | 29.58 (3.15) | 0.135 |
Resilience | ||||||
M (SD) | 3.58 (0.67) | 3.61 (.68) | 3.59 (0.65) | 3.40 (0.61) | 3.30 (0.77) | 0.004 |
High; n (%) | 131 | 89 (67.9) | 15 (11.5) | 20 (15.3) | 7 (5.3) | |
Normal; n (%) | 639 | 487 (76.2) | 68 (10.6) | 71 (11.1) | 13 (2.0) | |
Low; n (%) | 174 | 140 (80.5) | 21 (12.1) | 100 (10.6) | 4 (2.3) | 0.027 |
Depression; M (SD) | 1.38 (1.98) | 1.08 (1.61) | 1.26 (1.71) | 3.28 (2.9) | 3.47 (2.9) | <0.001 |
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | SE | p | β | SE | p | β | SE | p | |
Social Isolation/Loneliness (ref. not isolated and not lonely) | |||||||||
Isolated and not lonely | 0.029 | 0.191 | 0.336 | −0.059 | 0.203 | 0.062 | −0.040 | 0.195 | 0.182 |
Not isolated and lonely | 0.338 | 0.193 | <0.001 | 0.313 | 0.192 | <0.001 | 0.276 | 0.185 | <0.001 |
Isolated and lonely | 0.186 | 0.380 | <0.001 | 0.159 | 0.383 | <0.001 | 0.136 | 0.386 | <0.001 |
Female gender (ref. male) | <0.001 | 0.123 | 0.994 | −0.013 | 0.118 | 0.655 | |||
Age | 0.088 | 0.009 | 0.004 | 0.040 | 0.008 | 0.183 | |||
Education (ref. high) | |||||||||
Low | 0.020 | 0.608 | 0.543 | −0.009 | 0.140 | 0.771 | |||
Middle | −0.020 | −0.600 | 0.549 | −0.025 | 0.132 | 0.442 | |||
Marital Status (ref. married) | |||||||||
Single | 0.127 | 0.225 | <0.001 | 0.113 | 0.216 | <0.001 | |||
Divorced | 0.066 | 0.206 | 0.036 | 0.059 | 0.197 | 0.046 | |||
Widowed | 0.171 | 0.157 | <0.001 | 0.191 | 0.151 | <0.001 | |||
Duration since lockdown | −0.013 | 0.012 | 0.639 | ||||||
Being worried about COVID-19 | 0.089 | 0.046 | 0.005 | ||||||
Perceived threat by COVID-19 | 0.011 | 0.045 | 0.720 | ||||||
Being supportive of quarantine measures | −0.061 | 0.077 | 0.035 | ||||||
Feeling restricted by quarantine measures | 0.083 | 0.043 | 0.004 | ||||||
Resilience (ref. low) | |||||||||
Normal | −0.203 | 0.148 | <0.001 | ||||||
High | −0.308 | 0.189 | <0.001 | ||||||
R² | 0.138 | 0.179 | 0.257 |
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Müller, F.; Röhr, S.; Reininghaus, U.; Riedel-Heller, S.G. Social Isolation and Loneliness during COVID-19 Lockdown: Associations with Depressive Symptoms in the German Old-Age Population. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 3615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073615
Müller F, Röhr S, Reininghaus U, Riedel-Heller SG. Social Isolation and Loneliness during COVID-19 Lockdown: Associations with Depressive Symptoms in the German Old-Age Population. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(7):3615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073615
Chicago/Turabian StyleMüller, Felix, Susanne Röhr, Ulrich Reininghaus, and Steffi G. Riedel-Heller. 2021. "Social Isolation and Loneliness during COVID-19 Lockdown: Associations with Depressive Symptoms in the German Old-Age Population" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 7: 3615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073615