Marital Status Differences in Loneliness Among Older Americans During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hui Liu (), Molly Copeland, Gerald Nowak, William J. Chopik and Jeewon Oh
Additional contact information
Hui Liu: Purdue University
Molly Copeland: Michigan State University
Gerald Nowak: Michigan State University
William J. Chopik: Michigan State University
Jeewon Oh: Syracuse University

Population Research and Policy Review, 2023, vol. 42, issue 5, No 1, 25 pages

Abstract: Abstract Guided by the social integration perspective, we conducted one of the first population-based studies on marital status differences in loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic among older Americans. Analysis of data from the 2020 National Health and Aging Trends Study COVID-19 supplement (n = 2861) suggested that, compared to their married counterparts, divorced and widowed older adults reported higher levels of loneliness during the pandemic, and divorced older adults also felt lonely more often when compared to before the pandemic. These marital status differences in pandemic loneliness cannot be explained by changes in social participation (e.g., working for pay, volunteering, attending religious services, or attending clubs, classes, or other organized activities) or changes in contact frequency with family and friends (via phone calls, emails/texts/social media messages, video calls, or in-person visits). No gender difference was found in the association between marital status and loneliness during the pandemic. These results, coupled with the growth of the unmarried older population, highlight that policymakers, health care providers, and researchers should think creatively about ways to reduce the loneliness gap between married and unmarried groups to promote healthy aging for all older adults, particularly in the face of emerging pandemics that may complicate strategies to improve population health in the future.

Keywords: Loneliness; Marital status; COVID-19 pandemic; Social participation; Contact frequency; Gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-023-09822-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:kap:poprpr:v:42:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s11113-023-09822-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... es/journal/11113/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11113-023-09822-x

Access Statistics for this article

Population Research and Policy Review is currently edited by D.A. Swanson

More articles in Population Research and Policy Review from Springer, Southern Demographic Association (SDA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().