Older adults’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: The association with social networks

IF 2.9 2区社会学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY

Social Networks Pub Date : 2024-02-28 DOI:10.1016/j.socnet.2024.02.003

Zaira Torres, Amparo Oliver, Irene Fernández

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Abstract

This study examined the impact of different social networks on the mental health outcomes of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 25,534 older adults from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The study identified five social network profiles (family, friends, spouse, diverse, others) and a “no network” group. Findings showed that, compared to the no network profile, those with spouse and family profiles are more protected against depression and loneliness during the COVID-19. In turn, individuals within friends and diverse profiles had a similar likelihood of feeling depressed, anxious, and lonely. Friends and diverse profiles had higher likelihood of suffering more anxious or lonelier than before the COVID-19 compared to the no network profile. The study further discusses possible explanations about why these profiles, which typically served as mental health protectors, were significantly affected by the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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COVID-19 大流行期间老年人的心理健康：与社交网络的关系

本研究探讨了在 COVID-19 大流行期间不同社交网络对老年人心理健康结果的影响。参与者是来自欧洲健康、老龄和退休调查（SHARE）的 25,534 名老年人。研究确定了五种社会网络类型（家人、朋友、配偶、不同的人和其他人）和一个 "无网络 "组。研究结果表明，与无社交网络组相比，有配偶和家庭社交网络组的人在 COVID-19 期间更能避免抑郁和孤独。反过来，在朋友和多样化特征中，个人感到抑郁、焦虑和孤独的可能性相似。与没有网络的人相比，朋友和不同背景的人比在 COVID-19 之前更容易感到焦虑或孤独。研究进一步讨论了为什么这些通常作为心理健康保护者的特征会受到 COVID-19 大流行的独特环境的重大影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Social Networks Multiple-

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

12.90%

发文量

118

期刊介绍： Social Networks is an interdisciplinary and international quarterly. It provides a common forum for representatives of anthropology, sociology, history, social psychology, political science, human geography, biology, economics, communications science and other disciplines who share an interest in the study of the empirical structure of social relations and associations that may be expressed in network form. It publishes both theoretical and substantive papers. Critical reviews of major theoretical or methodological approaches using the notion of networks in the analysis of social behaviour are also included, as are reviews of recent books dealing with social networks and social structure.