Social isolation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major cause for concern in the young adult generation. Unfortunately, prior literature is limited in the study of this construct for this particular age cohort, but research can be guided by the extensive literature on social isolation in older adults.
Social isolation in young adults
Department of Psychology
Saint Leo University
Nicole Williams
Abstract
Social isolation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major cause for concern in the young adult generation. Unfortunately, prior literature is limited in the study of this construct for this particular age cohort, but research can be guided by the extensive literature on social isolation in older adults. The proposed study attempts to examine the effect of the pandemic on social connectedness. I hypothesize that, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, perceived social isolation in young adults has significantly increased. I expect to find that the national quarantine resulted in higher levels of perceived social isolation in young adults. One possible explanation for anticipated results revolve around time and curfew restrictions which resulted in less meaningful interpersonal interactions, restricting intimacy and exacerbating feelings of loneliness.
Keywords: Social Isolation, young adults, COVID-19, pandemic
Introduction
Social isolation generally includes the absence of social interactions, social contacts, and social relationships with family, friends, and society as a whole. Social isolation is often used synonymously and interchangeably with loneliness.
Risk Factors: Pandemic Exasperators
Mortality Forced Isolation
Depression No social networking
Cog. Impairment Decreased social trust
Functional Status Facility shut-downs
Hypothesis: As a results of the COVID-19 pandemic, perceived social isolation in young adults significantly increased.
Risk factors are guided by the literature on social isolation in older adults. (Courtin & Knapp, 2017; Hold-Lunstad et al., 2015; Shankar et al., 2017)
-Lack of social trust (Pew Research Center, 2020)
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method
Participants
Convenience sampling
Bulletin Board announcements and online flyers
Sample size: 50 (male and female)
Inclusion Criteria
Aged 18-29
Ability to provide informed consent
English speaking
U.S resident
Materials and Procedure
Complete online demographic assessment
Age, gender, annual household income, and highest level of education
Memory-inducing prompt- Life before COVID
Complete abbreviated Lubben’s Social Network Scale
6 Likert-style questions
Internal reliability = 0.83
Present day redirection
Complete LSN a second time
Debrief
Lubben, J. (1988). Assessing social networks among elderly populations. Family & CommunityHealth: The Journal of Health Promotion & Maintenance, 11, 42-52.Lubben, J., Blozik, E., Gillmann, G., IIiffe, S., von Renteln Kruse, W., Beck, J. C., & Stuck, A.E. (2006). Performance of an abbreviated version of the Lubben Social Network Scaleamong three European Community–dwelling older adult populations. Gerontologist,46(4), 503–513.
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Lubben social network scales
Results
Hypothesis Restated: The COVID-19 pandemic increased perceptions of social isolation and loneliness in young adults
Descriptive Statistics
Means, standard deviations, frequencies, and variance
Repeated measures t test (dependent t test)
IV: Two categorical related groups
Pre-post
Same subjects in each group (within)
DV: Continuous- Interval level
Social Isolation scored on a scale ranging from 0-30
Expected Results:
Significant difference supporting the notion of more perceptions of increased social isolation and loneliness in the post-pandemic condition
Could also run a repeated-measures ANOVA
Before: Chi-square test- The nominal level categories are interpreted as (1= pre-quarantine, 2= post quarantine) and (1= socially isolated, 2= not socially isolated).The cross tabulation will concurrently display the distributions, indicating whether or not the variables are associate
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Discussion
Possible Outcomes
The quarantine resulted in higher levels of perceived social isolation.
Logic: Interplay between objective and subjective variables.
Time and curfew restrictions resulted in less meaningful interpersonal interactions, restricting intimacy and exacerbating feelings of loneliness.
Logic: The idea that the opposite of social isolation and loneliness is not the absence of it.
Limitations
Participants inability to recall life events before the start of the pandemic
Survey methodology way contribute participant bias
Give responses that are expected
Convenience sampling
Lack of generalizability
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Discussion- Future research
Compare Means
Assuming the anticipated results are found, future studies could run a single sample t-test given the mean from this study’s data and compare it to pre-pandemic, young adult, social isolation population data
Age Cohorts
As mentioned previously, the data for social isolation in older adults in extensive. This study will provide data on young adults, but the literature will still be lacking in data from middle aged adults.
Comorbidity
Social isolation and loneliness are known risk factories for mental and physical health related diseases. The interplay between psychological and physiological morbidities. Future research should test effects of comorbid interactions on SI
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references
Courtin, E., & Knapp, M. (2017). Social isolation, loneliness and health in old age: a scopingreview. Health & social care in the community, 25(3), 799–812.https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12311
Health Resources & Services. (2019). The loneliness epidemic. Retrieved from https://www.hrsa.gov/enews/past-issues/2019/january-17/loneliness-epidemic
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., & Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness andsocial isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review. Perspectives onpsychological science: a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 10(2),227–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614568352
Lubben, J. (1988). Assessing social networks among elderly populations. Family & CommunityHealth: The Journal of Health Promotion & Maintenance, 11, 42-52
Lubben, J., Blozik, E., Gillmann, G., IIiffe, S., von Renteln Kruse, W., Beck, J. C., & Stuck, A.E. (2006). Performance of an abbreviated version of the Lubben Social Network Scaleamong three European Community–dwelling older adult populations. Gerontologist,46(4), 503–513
Pew Research Center. (2020). The state of Americans’ trust in each other amid the COVID-19pandemic. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/06/the-state-of-americans-trust-in-each-other-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic/
Shankar, A., McMunn, A., Demakakos, P., Hamer, M., & Steptoe, A. (2017). Social isolationand loneliness: Prospective associations with functional status in older adults. Healthpsychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, AmericanPsychological Association, 36(2), 179–187. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000437
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