Young, Alone, and Young Alone During a COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

The effects of age (young versus old) and living status (alone versus with others) during the COVID-19 lockdown were assessed via a Survey Monkey questionnaire on 260 individuals (18-82 years). Both age and living status and their interaction effects were explored via ANOVAs on scales for health, media use, mood states including anxiety and depression, posttraumatic stress symptoms, fatigue and sleep disturbances. ANOVAs were conducted via a median split on age as well as on a group comparison of young (20-40 years) versus old (60-80 years) individuals. The results of these two types of data analyses were consistent on most variables, suggesting that the young versus the old experienced more stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms as well as greater fatigue and sleep disturbances. And, they reported fewer health activities. Significant effects were also noted for the alone versus living with others' groups including less engagement in exercise and work at home by the alone individuals as well as more stress, depression, fatigue, and PTSD symptoms. A significant age by living condition interaction effect suggested that the young living alone had the highest depression scores. The experiences that were common to the young, the living alone, and the young living alone were being lonely, depressed and fatigued. These results highlight the importance of prevention/intervention for the young, the alone and the young alone during lockdowns like COVID-19.