From the descendants of the pandemic, they are most commonly seen as among those at higher risk – older Americans, some of whom are medically vulnerable, find out how to for them to lead a life in Covid ‘s saturated, increasingly remote world.
That’s one kind of health – physical. When it comes to mental and emotional health, older adults in the United States exhibit resilience and persistence despite struggling with loneliness and isolation, the latest self-reported findings in a follow-up study show praise.
The latest data from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, conducted by the social research group NORC at the University of Chicago, is part of a longitudinal study designed to monitor the physical and emotional well-being of older Americans over time. .
Only 9% of older adults reported having “moderate to good or poor mental health” during the pandemic, similar to previous responses and an indication of what the study says “ some signs of strengthening. ” Nonetheless, the study found that overall happiness has declined. About half as many older adults now report feeling very or very happy, and a growing number report occasional feelings of depression or loneliness.
“It should make everyone aware of the impact of loneliness but also the fact that people are resilient – and perhaps even older than older adults than younger adults,” said Louise Hawkley, chief research scientist at NORC and the lead researcher studied.
“This is not their first show. They’ve been through things already. They know how to handle stress, ”said Hawkley. “This is something we can learn from them – that they are alive.”
The information comes from 1,284 respondents between the ages of 55 and 99, interviews in September and October – all participating in a long-term study that collected data in person in 2015-2016. No error was reported.
Other interesting findings from the responses:
– One-fifth of older adults in the study reported no personal contact with family and friends outside their own families during the pandemic.
– At the same time, at least half of older adults have not “reduced the frequency of personal contact with friends and family who do not live with them” since the outbreak.
– Where personal interactions went, the study showed that electronic communication was interfering – but, perhaps abruptly in this demographic, the use of telephone conversations (32%) was lagging behind messages (37%) and video calls (42%).
Taken together, the responses, as Hawkley puts it, are a picture of a demographic that spans generations, continues to face challenging situations and – crucially – whose members need more on loneliness and emotional health even after the pandemic has erupted.
“There’s a lot we don’t understand about how well people cope with age,” said Hawkley, who specializes in loneliness and social isolation in older adults. She said preparations are being made to get physical data from the participants as soon as the outbreaks spread.
“We are sadly learning how dangerous social isolation is to our mental health,” she said. “And I think we need to learn how it affects physical health. ”
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This story was published from a wire group group with no text changes.
