Loneliness, Malnutrition and Change in Subjective Age among Older Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic

Adi Vitman Schorr, Itamar Yehuda and Snait Tamir
Additional contact information
Adi Vitman Schorr: Shamir Research Institute, Haifa University, Katsrin 1290000, Israel
Itamar Yehuda: Shamir Research Institute, Haifa University, Katsrin 1290000, Israel
Snait Tamir: Faculty of Science and Technology, Tel-Hai College, Upper Galilee 1220800, Israel

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Objectives: We examined the effect of loneliness and the role of two mediating factors, depressive symptoms and malnutrition on subjective age among older adults during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and explored how the pandemic is affecting subjective age. Design: A convenience sample of 201 older adults aged 65 and over was interviewed. Using bootstrapping, we tested the strength and significance of the indirect effect of depressive symptoms and malnutrition (mediators) on the relationship between feelings of loneliness and subjective age. Results: The relationship between feelings of loneliness and subjective age during the COVID-19 pandemic was mediated by malnutrition, but not by depressive symptoms. In addition, the participants felt older during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the preceding period. Conclusions : An association was found among feelings of loneliness, malnutrition, and subjective age. To overcome these feelings in times of crisis like the pandemic, it is essential to develop new communication methods (technologies for managing and addressing the needs of the older population; technologies to encourage social engagement, and technologies for managing and providing remote medical services) for and with older adults that are effective in reducing loneliness, and to promote good nutrition. Possible practical solutions include new social network technologies for reducing loneliness combined with continued reliance on phone communication as an intervention of psychological support to promote a healthy lifestyle and prevent malnutrition.

Keywords: feelings of loneliness; subjective age; malnutrition; COVID-19; older adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/106/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/106/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2020:i:1:p:106-:d:468596

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().