Social networks and mental health change in older adults after the Covid-19 outbreak

Abstract

Objectives

This article examines the influence of social networks on selected aspects of mental health following the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Method

We linked data from a post outbreak telephone survey in 2020 by the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, with baseline data from SHARE Wave 6 (2016) (n = 33,485). Two mental health measures (depression and anxiety) were regressed on social network variables relevant to the Covid-19 crisis (frequency of face-to-face contact and frequency of contact through electronic means), controlling for confounders. Interactions of age group and social networks were considered. Baseline mental health was controlled, focusing the analysis on post-outbreak mental health change.

Results

Face-to-face network contact significantly reduced negative mental health changes while electronic contact significantly increased them. The age interactions were insignificant. Country differences were observed.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that face-to-face social networks can moderate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on important aspects of mental health.

Keywords:

• Covid-19
• contact frequency
• depression
• anxiety
• SHARE

Acknowledgments

The SHARE data collection has been funded by the European Commission through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812), FP7 (SHARE-PREP: GA N°211909, SHARE-LEAP: GA N°227822, SHARE M4: GA N°261982, DASISH: GA N°283646) and Horizon 2020 (SHARE-DEV3: GA N°676536, SHARE-COHESION: GA N°870628, SERISS: GA N°654221, SSHOC: GA N°823782) and by DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion. Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06-11, OGHA_04-064, HHSN271201300071C) and from various national funding sources are gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org). Research in this article is a part of the H2020 SHARE-COVID19 project (Grant agreement No. 101015924).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.