Varied and unexpected changes in the wellbeing of seniors in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that psychological health deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic but far less is known about changes in other measures of well-being. We examined changes in a broad set of measures of well-being among seniors just before and after the recognition of community spread of COVID-19 in the United States. We fielded two waves of a survey to a large, national online panel of adults ages 60 to 68 at wave 1. We measured depressive symptoms, negative affect, positive affect, pain, life satisfaction and self-rated health in each survey wave. 16,644 adults answered well-being questions in waves 1 and 2 of our survey (mean[SD]: age 64 [2.6]; 10,165 women [61%]; 15,161 [91%] white). We found large (20%; p<0.001) increases in the rate of depressive symptoms (1.4 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.97 to 1.86) and negative mood (0.225 scale points; 95% CI, 0.205 to 0.245) but no change in self-reported health and a decrease (12.5%; p<0.001) in the rate of self-reported pain (5 percentage points; 95% CI, -5.8 to -4.3). Depressive symptoms and negative affect increased more for women. Higher perceived risk of getting COVID-19 and of dying from the disease were associated with larger increases in the rate of depressive symptoms and negative affect and larger decreases in positive affect and life satsifaction. COVID-19 related job/income loss was the only pandemic-related factor predictive of the decline in pain. Although depressive symptoms and mood worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, other measures of well-being were either not materially affected or even improved.