Heidinger Theresa, Richter Lukas
Division of Gerontology and Health Research, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria.
Institute for Sociology and Social Research, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria.
Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 30;11:585308. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.585308. eCollection 2020.
Old-age loneliness is a global problem with many members of the scientific community suspecting increased loneliness in the elderly population during COVID-19 and the associated safety measures. Although hypothesized, a direct comparison of loneliness before and during the pandemic is hard to achieve without a survey of loneliness prior to the pandemic. This study provides a direct comparison of reported loneliness before and during the pandemic using 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) on a pre- and a peri-pandemic sample of elderly (60+ years) individuals from Lower Austria, a county of Austria (Europe). Differences on a loneliness index computed from the short De Jong Gierveld scale were found to be significant, evidencing that loneliness in the elderly population had in fact risen slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated safety measures. Although the reported loneliness remained rather low, this result illustrated the effect of the "new normal" under COVID-19. As loneliness is a risk factor for physical and mental illness, this result is important in planning the future handling of the pandemic, as safety measures seem to have a negative impact on loneliness. This work confirms the anticipated increase in loneliness in the elderly population during COVID-19.
老年孤独是一个全球性问题，许多科学界人士怀疑，在新冠疫情期间及相关安全措施实施期间，老年人群体的孤独感有所增加。尽管这只是一种假设，但如果没有疫情之前的孤独感调查，就很难直接比较疫情之前和期间的孤独感。本研究利用1:1倾向得分匹配法（PSM），对奥地利（欧洲）下奥地利州一个县60岁及以上老年人的疫情前和疫情期间样本进行直接比较，以对比疫情之前和期间报告的孤独感。结果发现，根据简短的德容 - 吉尔维尔德量表计算出的孤独指数存在显著差异，这表明在新冠疫情及其相关安全措施实施期间，老年人群体的孤独感实际上略有上升。尽管报告的孤独感仍然相当低，但这一结果说明了新冠疫情下“新常态”的影响。由于孤独是身心健康问题的一个风险因素，这一结果对于规划未来疫情应对措施很重要，因为安全措施似乎对孤独感有负面影响。这项研究证实了新冠疫情期间老年人群体孤独感增加的预期。
