Being cut off from social identity resources has shaped loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal interview study with medically vulnerable older adults from the United Kingdom

Harkin, L. ORCID: 0000-0003-0511-5934, Stuart, A., Stevenson, C. ORCID: 0000-0002-2438-6425, Talbot, C., Daly, R., Park, M.S.-A. ORCID: 0000-0002-1269-6856, Katz, D., Gooch, D. and Price, B., 2024. Being cut off from social identity resources has shaped loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal interview study with medically vulnerable older adults from the United Kingdom. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 34 (1): e2724. ISSN 1052-9284

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Abstract

Loneliness is a pernicious problem in older adulthood, associated with physical decline and isolation from valued social groups. However, the long-term evolving experiences of ageing, identity and loneliness have yet to be elucidated. We use a Qualitative Longitudinal Research interview approach with nine vulnerable older adults (Agemean = 79.4 years), in which five participants were interviewed twice between 2019 and 2020, and four participants were interviewed at three-time points from 2019 to 2021. This study aims to understand the unfolding experiences of ageing, social identity and loneliness during a prolonged period of social isolation during the Coronavirus pandemic. A theoretically guided thematic analysis highlights that participants initially experience ‘Categorisation as Vulnerable and Loss of Agency’ and ‘Shrinking Social Worlds’, leading to ‘Undermining of Reciprocal Support’ and ‘Fears of Persistent Loneliness’. Findings suggest that interventions to ameliorate loneliness among older adults would benefit from addressing age-based stereotypes and emphasising the value of reciprocal contributions that older adults can make to their networks, as well as scaffolding and enhancing social identification with new groups.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology
Creators:	Harkin, L., Stuart, A., Stevenson, C., Talbot, C., Daly, R., Park, M.S.-A., Katz, D., Gooch, D. and Price, B.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	2 January 2024
Volume:	34
Number:	1
ISSN:	1052-9284
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/casp.2724 DOI 1651695 Other
Rights:	© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	06 Sep 2024 09:05
Last Modified:	06 Sep 2024 09:05
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52177

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