“We Are Staying at Home.” Association of Self-perceptions of Aging, Personal and Family Resources, and Loneliness With Psychological Distress During the Lock-Down Period of COVID-19
Open accessAbstract
Objectives: Families are going through a very stressful time because of the COVID-19 outbreak, with age being a risk factor for this illness. Negative self-perceptions of aging, among other personal and relational variables, may be associated with loneliness and distress caused by the pandemic crisis. Method: Participants are 1,310 Spanish people (age range: 18–88 years) during a lock-down period at home. In addition to specific questions about risk for COVID-19, self-perceptions of aging, family and personal resources, loneliness, and psychological distress were measured. Hierarchical regression analyses were done for assessing the correlates of loneliness and psychological distress. Results: The measured variables allow for an explanation of 48% and 33% of the variance of distress and loneliness, respectively. Being female, younger, having negative self-perceptions about aging, more time exposed to news about COVID-19, more contact with relatives different to those that co-reside, fewer positive emotions, less perceived self-efficacy, lower quality of sleep, higher expressed emotion, and higher loneliness were associated with higher distress. Being female, younger, having negative self-perceptions about aging, more time exposed to news about COVID-19, lower contact with relatives, higher self-perception as a burden, fewer positive emotions, lower resources for entertaining oneself, lower quality of sleep, and higher expressed emotion were associated with higher loneliness. Discussion: Having negative self-perceptions of aging and lower chronological age, together with other measured family and personal resources, are associated with loneliness and psychological distress. Older adults with positive self-perceptions of aging seem to be more resilient during the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Being female, having a negative self-perception of aging, being a healthcare worker, family and personal resources, time devoted to COVID-19 information, having an acquaintance or family member infected with COVID-19, or a previous history of medical problems are potential risk factors for psychological distress during COVID-19.
“Being female (36, 39, 42), having a negative self-perception of aging (42), healthcare workers (38), family and personal resources (42), time devoted to COVID-19 information (42), having an acquaintance or a family member infected with COVID-19 or a previous history of medical problems (39) seem to act as potential risk factors.”
From Impact of Social Isolation Due to COVID-19 on Health in Older People: Mental and Physical Effects and Recommendations (2020) · cites this paper as [42]
Social distancing due to COVID-19 could lead to negative consequences for the physical health of older adults, caused by decreased physical activity levels due to restriction of social participation.
“This review has reported that social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to negative consequences for the physical health of older adults. This is caused by the decrease of physical activity levels due to the total or partial restriction of social participation in community groups and family activities during the pandemic (42, 43, 44).”
From Impact of Social Isolation Due to COVID-19 on Health in Older People: Mental and Physical Effects and Recommendations (2020) · cites this paper as [42]
The Introduction (page unavailable) suggests that lockdown may contribute to loneliness and psychological distress, and the Measures section assesses family contact. Our copy does not address the claimed decline in physical activity or a resulting effect on older adults’ physical health; searches for physical activity, exercise, social participation, and community groups found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe prevalence of anxiety during the COVID-19 outbreak ranged from 8.3% to 49.7% across studies.
“The prevalence of anxiety ranged from 8.3%, 18.7% and 35.1% to 49.7% (36, 38)”
From Impact of Social Isolation Due to COVID-19 on Health in Older People: Mental and Physical Effects and Recommendations (2020) · cites this paper as [42]
The Measures section mentions anxiety as one component of a psychological-distress scale, but gives no anxiety prevalence estimates. The Results section reports associations with distress rather than prevalence across studies; searches for 8.3%, 18.7%, 35.1%, 49.7%, and anxiety prevalence found no supporting passage in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.74)
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- Authors
- Losada-Baltar, A., Jiménez-Gonzalo, L., Gallego-Alberto, L., Pedroso-Chaparro, M. D. S., Fernandes-Pires, J., & Márquez-González, M.
- Affiliations
- Departamento de Psicología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
- Venue
- The Journals of Gerontology: Series B
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-04-13
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e10-e16
- ISSN
- 1079-5014 (ISSN-L)
- 1758-5368
- PMC
- PMC7184373
- OpenAlex
- W3016174217
- Cited by
- 508
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 82 · 2022: 114 · 2021: 143 · 2020: 80
- FWCI
- 41.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- The Journals of Gerontology Series B (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Hispana (submittedVersion)
- Biblos-e Archivo (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- COVID-19 lockdown, self-perception of aging, loneliness, psychological distress, family resources, personal resources, expressed emotion, self-efficacy, sleep quality, positive emotions, news exposure, older adults, resilience, gender differences
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Distress, Physical Distancing, COVID-19, Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Cross-Sectional Studies, Family, Female, Humans, Loneliness, Male, Middle Aged, Self Concept, Spain, Stress, Psychological, Self Efficacy, Resilience, Psychological, Young Adult
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