Racine Jo Aleida van der Sloot, Christin-Melanie Vauclair
{"title":"Covid-19 Lockdown Loneliness and Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Basic Need Satisfaction Across Different Age Groups","authors":"Racine Jo Aleida van der Sloot, Christin-Melanie Vauclair","doi":"10.1007/s10804-023-09469-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Covid-19 and its lockdown measures have uniquely challenged people’s wellbeing and numerous studies have been carried out to understand the effects of such lockdown measures on mental health. Yet, to date most of these studies do not assess psychological pathways and conditional effects. By drawing on self-determination theory, the present study tested whether the relationship between lockdown loneliness and mental health is mediated via basic needs satisfaction (relatedness, autonomy, and competence) and whether these associations are exacerbated for younger age groups. A total of 339 Portuguese residents completed an anonymous web-based survey during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2021. The results corroborate a significant link between perceived loneliness and anxiety as well as depression. Parallel mediation analyses showed that competence consistently mediated the lockdown loneliness-mental health link. Moderated mediated analyses also confirmed that the psychosocial pathway applied most strongly to younger age groups. These findings highlight the role of social factors for competence need satisfaction and mental health among younger people during the Covid-19 lockdown in Portugal. The results also point to potential avenues for future prevention measures to mitigate the harmful effects that social exclusion can bring about.</p>","PeriodicalId":51546,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Adult Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Adult Development","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-023-09469-0","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Covid-19 and its lockdown measures have uniquely challenged people’s wellbeing and numerous studies have been carried out to understand the effects of such lockdown measures on mental health. Yet, to date most of these studies do not assess psychological pathways and conditional effects. By drawing on self-determination theory, the present study tested whether the relationship between lockdown loneliness and mental health is mediated via basic needs satisfaction (relatedness, autonomy, and competence) and whether these associations are exacerbated for younger age groups. A total of 339 Portuguese residents completed an anonymous web-based survey during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2021. The results corroborate a significant link between perceived loneliness and anxiety as well as depression. Parallel mediation analyses showed that competence consistently mediated the lockdown loneliness-mental health link. Moderated mediated analyses also confirmed that the psychosocial pathway applied most strongly to younger age groups. These findings highlight the role of social factors for competence need satisfaction and mental health among younger people during the Covid-19 lockdown in Portugal. The results also point to potential avenues for future prevention measures to mitigate the harmful effects that social exclusion can bring about.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Adult Development is an interdisciplinary journal covering development in early adulthood, midlife, and later adulthood. The Journal supports innovative theoretical and empirical articles that help direct the future of our field. Critical issues include the importance of life-long education, work and family changes, and physical and mental health influencing adult development. In addition, the impact of personality, emotions, cognition, and biomarkers are areas of interest. The Journal of Adult Development emphasizes the importance of interindividual differences and contextual issues influencing adult development. Interventions that promote optimal development throughout the adult life span are also welcome.