Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland.
LIVES Centre, Swiss Centre of Expertise in Life Course Research, Lausanne, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2022 Mar 30;17(3):e0265900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265900. eCollection 2022.
In early pandemic waves, when vaccination against COVID-19 was not yet an option, distancing and reduced social contact were the most effective measures to slow down the pandemic. Changes in frequency and forms of social contact have reduced the spread of the COVID-19 virus and thus saved lives, yet there is increasing evidence for negative side effects such as mental health issues. In the present study, we investigate the development of loneliness and its predictors to examine the role of changes in social networks due to social distancing and other COVID-19-related life changes. A total of 737 participants (age range = 18-81 years) completed an online survey in three waves during the last quarter of 2020 at one-month intervals. Latent growth and multilevel modeling revealed that emotional loneliness increased over time, while social loneliness remained stable. Moreover, socially lonely individuals were likely to also develop emotional loneliness over time. Increased social distancing and sanitary measures were accompanied by decreased social interactions and loss of individuals considered SOS contacts and confidants. Changes in specific social network indicators were differentially associated with changes in emotional vs social loneliness: Loss of friends considered confidants was associated with increasing emotional loneliness, whereas loss of friends considered SOS contacts and reduced overall social interactions were related to increasing social loneliness. Lastly, individuals with more family-and-friend SOS contacts, more friends as confidants and an overall higher number of social interactions were more protected from feeling socially or emotionally lonely. Study findings enhance the understanding of underlying mechanisms differentially contributing to social and emotional loneliness and offer practical suggestions to reduce mental-health side effects of social distancing.
在大流行早期，当 COVID-19 疫苗接种还不是一种选择时，保持社交距离和减少社交接触是减缓大流行的最有效措施。社交接触频率和形式的变化减少了 COVID-19 病毒的传播，从而拯救了生命，但越来越多的证据表明存在心理健康等负面副作用。在本研究中，我们调查了孤独感的发展及其预测因素，以研究由于社交距离和其他与 COVID-19 相关的生活变化而导致的社交网络变化的作用。共有 737 名参与者（年龄范围为 18-81 岁）在 2020 年最后一个季度的三个月内，每隔一个月通过在线调查完成了三次调查。潜在增长和多层次模型显示，情感孤独感随时间而增加，而社会孤独感保持稳定。此外，社交孤独的个体随着时间的推移也可能发展出情感孤独感。社交距离和卫生措施的增加伴随着社交互动的减少以及 SOS 联系人的丧失和密友的减少。特定社交网络指标的变化与情感和社会孤独感的变化相关：被视为密友的朋友的丧失与情感孤独感的增加有关，而被视为 SOS 联系人的朋友的丧失和社交互动的减少与社会孤独感的增加有关。最后，与家人和朋友有更多 SOS 联系、有更多朋友作为密友、整体社交互动更多的个体，更能免受社交或情感孤独的影响。研究结果增强了对导致社会和情感孤独的潜在机制的理解，并为减少社交隔离的心理健康副作用提供了实际建议。
