Context Matters: Internet Usage and Loneliness Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Later life is often categorized by higher-than-average levels of loneliness, but individual differences are vast and not well understood. Emerging evidence indicates that broad-based contextual factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic - and the use of the internet throughout - are differentially associated with the experience of loneliness. We therefore target internet usage and loneliness among middle-aged and older adults during the pandemic and examine the moderating role of age, gender, and limiting illness therein.

Methods

We applied hierarchical regression models to data from the COVID-19 sub-study Wave 1 (June/July 2020) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N= 4,790; Mage= 70.2; SD= 9.0; range: 50-90; 43.5% male).

Results

Infrequent internet use

SUBMITTER: Hosea A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11503476 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature