Impact On Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Based On Age and Household Size

Abstract

During the COVID-19 global pandemic, individuals have had to learn to cope with isolation and adjust to new social protocols (Nooraie et al., 2021). In Washington state, a lockdown mandate was issued between March to May 2020 in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases (Washington Governor, 2020). This study aimed to analyze how King County residents experienced the lockdown and the impact it had on their daily activities, behaviors, and well-being. We examined the age and the dynamics within the household including household size and how they relate to the person’s experience of loneliness. The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Appendix A; Russel et al., 1978) was distributed online through Qualtrics, an online survey provider. The participants were adults between the ages of 18-65 living in King County during the lockdown. We hypothesized (H1) that people living alone or in crowded households experienced the highest levels of loneliness during the COVID quarantine and (H2) that age groups experienced isolation differently, specifically loneliness increases with age. The results demonstrate a significant main effect for age. The largest differences in feelings of loneliness were found between the youngest age group (18-24) and the oldest age group (55-64), although it appears that overall loneliness decreased as age increased. No significant effects were found for household size which contradicts the findings of previous studies.