From Physical Distancing to Social Loneliness among Gay Men and Other Men Having Sex with Men in Belgium: Examining the Disruption of the Social Network and Social Support Structures

Estrelle Thunnissen, Veerle Buffel, Thijs Reyniers, Christiana Nöstlinger and Edwin Wouters
Additional contact information
Estrelle Thunnissen: Centre for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
Veerle Buffel: Centre for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
Thijs Reyniers: Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
Christiana Nöstlinger: Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
Edwin Wouters: Centre for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: Since the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, levels of loneliness have increased among the general population and especially among sexual minorities, such as gay men and other men who have sex with men, who already experienced more problems with social isolation before the pandemic. We analyzed how the disruption of the social network and social support structures by containment measures impact loneliness among gay and other men having sex with men. Our sample consisted of gay and other men having sex with men who had in person communication with family as well as heterosexual friends and homosexual friends before the lockdown (N = 461). Multivariate regression analyses were performed with social provisions (social interaction and reliable alliance) and loneliness as dependent variables. A change from in-person communication with gay peers before the pandemic to remote-only or no communication with gay peers during the pandemic, mediated by change in social integration, was related to an increased feeling of loneliness during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic. There were some unexpected findings, which should be interpreted in the specific social context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. On average, social integration and reliable alliance among MSM increased during the lockdown, even though in-person communication decreased and loneliness increased. Our results show it is critical to maintain a view of social support and social loneliness as lodged within larger social and cultural contexts that ultimately shape the mechanisms behind them.

Keywords: loneliness; social network; social support; social provisions; men who have sex with men; physical distancing; lockdown; SARS-CoV-2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6873/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6873/ (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:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6873-:d:831534

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 ().