ArticleThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry2021
Understanding Psychological Distress and Protective Factors Amongst Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Article in The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Mental Health Apps for Distress During COVID-19 in US Unemployed and Essential Workers: Remote Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Trial
- Sex differences in psychological distress and its risk factors among US adult Black and White immigrants, NHIS 2005-2018.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Predictors of Loneliness and Psychological Distress in Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: National Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- The association of financial resources and loneliness among older adults during a state of emergency.PloS one · 2025Article
- Structural equation model of coping and life satisfaction of community-dwelling older people during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2023Article
- The Buffering Role of Self-compassion in the Association Between Loneliness with Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study Among Older Adults Living in Residential Care Homes During COVID-19.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2023Article
- Predictors of persistent depressive and anxiety symptoms among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2023Article
- Perspectives of Nonspecialists Delivering a Brief Depression Treatment in the United States: A Qualitative Investigation.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. older adults: self-reported pandemic-related concerns and consequences in a cross-sectional survey study.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Mental health and academic experiences among U.S. college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Older People in Germany During the COVID-19 Pandemic:The Least, the More, and the Most Affected.Journal of population ageing · 2023Article
- Prevalence and factors associated with general anxiety symptoms severity among older adults registered with the Primary Healthcare Corporation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.Qatar medical journal · 2023Article
- Older Adults' Attitudes Regarding COVID-19 and Associated Infection Control Measures in Shanghai and Impact on Well-Being.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Associations Between Changes in Loneliness and Social Connections, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Women's Health Initiative.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2022Article
- Sense of Alienation and Its Associations With Depressive Symptoms and Poor Sleep Quality in Older Adults Who Experienced the Lockdown in Wuhan, China, During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology · 2022Article
- Health-Related Quality of Life Mildly Affected Following COVID-19: a Retrospective Pre-post Cohort Study with a Propensity Score-Matched Control Group.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Article
- Article
- Mental health and factors related to life satisfaction in nursing home and community-dwelling older adults during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2021Article
- Age and Emotional Distress during COVID-19: Findings from Two Waves of the Norwegian Citizen Panel.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThis study examined the emotional distress and loneliness during COVID-19 and the roles of resiliency and activities.
designA cross-sectional national survey.
settingAmazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) and Prolific Research Platforms.
participantsFive hundred and one U.S. dwelling English-speaking adults 60 years old and older. MEASUREMENTS: Participants completed an online survey with the PHQ-9; GAD-7; Short Health Anxiety Inventory; 3-item UCLA Loneliness scale; PROMIS measures of global health, instrumental, and emotional support; 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale; and COVID-19 needs assessment.
resultsAcross the sample 13% reported moderate depressive symptoms, 9% reported moderate anxiety symptoms, and 26% endorsed being "lonely." The emotionally distressed group endorsed more loneliness, lower resiliency, less physical exercise, and worse physical health. The low Socio-Economic Status group endorsed less loneliness, less likely to engage in physical exercise and worse physical health.The lonely group endorsed less resilience, less physical exercise, and worse physical health. A multiple logistic regression found that resilience, socioeconomic status, and physical health were significant predictors of loneliness, whereas global health was the best predictor of emotional distress.
conclusionsEven after prolonged social distancing, older adults in this study did not report greater psychological distress compared to earlier studies of older adults during COVID-19. Older adults with lower SES, worse physical health, and less resiliency, were more likely to report more loneliness. It is this group that should be the focus of intervention.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.