The role of social connection on the experience of COVID-19 related post-traumatic growth and stress

Background Historically social connection has been an important way through which humans have coped with large-scale threatening events. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns have deprived people of major sources of social support and coping, with others representing threats. Hence, a major stressor during the pandemic has been a sense of social disconnection and loneliness. This study explores how people’s experience of compassion and feeling socially safe and connected, in contrast to feeling socially disconnected, lonely and fearful of compassion, effects the impact of perceived threat of COVID-19 on post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress. Methods Adult participants from the general population (N = 4057) across 21 countries worldwide, completed self-report measures of social connection (compassion for self, from others, for others; social safeness), social disconnection (fears of compassion for self, from others, for others; loneliness), perceived threat of COVID-19, post-traumatic growth and traumatic stress. Results Perceived threat of COVID-19 predicted increased post-traumatic growth and traumatic stress. Social connection (compassion and social safeness) predicted higher post-traumatic growth and traumatic stress, whereas social disconnection (fears of compassion and loneliness) predicted increased traumatic symptoms only. Social connection heightened the impact of perceived threat of COVID-19 on post-traumatic growth, while social disconnection weakened this impact. Social disconnection magnified the impact of the perceived threat of COVID-19 on traumatic stress. These effects were consistent across all countries. Conclusions Social connection is key to how people adapt and cope with the worldwide COVID-19 crisis and may facilitate post-traumatic growth in the context of the threat experienced during the pandemic. In contrast, social disconnection increases vulnerability to develop post-traumatic stress in this threatening context. Public health and Government organizations could implement interventions to foster compassion and feelings of social safeness and reduce experiences of social disconnection, thus promoting growth, resilience and mental wellbeing during and following the pandemic.

COVID-19 and the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Sexual Minority Status

The COVID-19 virus has caused millions of deaths and impaired physical and mental health and social disconnection for countless persons around the world; concomitantly, the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the pervasive effects of racism and stigma experienced by Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) and other marginalized/stigmatized groups. This study adopts an intersectional perspective examining multiple marginalized identities (i.e., the combination of LGBTQ and BIPOC status) and COVID-19 pandemic health stressors. We report on data from an online survey (conducted between Aug 10 and Oct. 10, 2020) focusing on current experiences and future planning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. LGBTQ respondents (n=415) indicated significantly higher levels of depression, loneliness, sadness, and isolation in comparison to heterosexuals (n=3916). Heterosexual white respondents (n=3446) reported significantly higher levels of acceptance in their community and reported greater happiness but also higher rates of feeling of isolation than heterosexual BIPOC heterosexuals (n=470) who reported significantly higher rates of feeling judged/shamed by others than the heterosexual white respondents. In contrast to our expectations, white LGBTQ respondents (n=366) reported significantly more depression, loneliness, anxiety, and sadness than their BIPOC LGBTQ peers (n=49). These findings are interpreted as reflecting a complex mix of the effects of marginalization (as experienced by LGBTQ persons in general), and privilege and relative deprivation (as experienced by heterosexual and LGBTQ white persons) along with resilience and the moderated expectations and experiences of BIPOC LGBTQ persons.

River-Space Development as a Social Interaction Space through the Placemaking Approach

Urban water management has increasingly given the use of rivers to infrastructure, industry, and navigation; stripping away its use as a space and cutting people off while creating the phenomenon of social disconnection. Awareness to implement social planning during river development is important in order to integrate rivers into the urban fabric. This research examines the ‘City is Not a Tree’ theory as a basis to understand how cities need to have a semi-lattice structure with overlapping spaces in order to integrate themselves into the city. As the nature of this research is bottom-up, it saw appropriate the placemaking approach in creating river-spaces into a place for the people. Method used in this research includes analysis and comparison to theories, guides and ideal precedents. Furthermore, this research resulted in finding guides for creating good river-spaces through the placemaking approach. The guides are of elements and variables needed to create a good river-space and a guide for the required programs that need to be implemented. Through this research, it is found that developing river-spaces as a space to host social interaction with the placemaking approach, not only creates a livelier environment but also improves the overall quality of the river-space

Examining the Link Between Multidimensional Perfectionism and Depression: A Longitudinal Study of the Intervening Effects of Social Disconnection

Introduction: The Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) posits that perfectionism confers risk for depression by promoting social disconnection. However, the specific indirect effect of social disconnection on the prospective relation of perfectionism dimensions with depression severity is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to provide the first comprehensive examination of the PSDM. Methods: A diverse community sample of 447 completed measures of trait perfectionism, perfectionistic self-presentation styles, and depressive symptoms at baseline. Six months later, participants completed measures of perfectionistic self-presentation styles, social disconnection, and depressive symptoms. Indirect effects models were analyzed to examine the impact of each facet of perfectionism on social disconnection and subsequent depression severity. Results: Consistent with the PSDM, all perfectionism traits and self-presentation styles resulted in greater depression severity via one or more facets of social disconnection, with social hopelessness and loneliness demonstrating the most widespread effects. Furthermore, perfectionistic self-presentation styles and social disconnection demonstrated sequential indirect effects on the relation of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism with depressive symptoms at follow-up. Discussion: This study is the first to demonstrate the depressogenic effects of all perfectionism dimensions. Findings delineate the interpersonal mechanisms underlying the perfectionism-depression link.

Lonely individuals process the world in idiosyncratic ways

Loneliness (i.e., the distressing feeling that often accompanies the subjective sense of social disconnection) is detrimental to mental and physical health, and deficits in self-reported feelings of being understood by others is a risk factor for loneliness. What contributes to these deficits in lonely people? We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to unobtrusively measure the relative alignment of various aspects of people’s mental processing of naturalistic stimuli (specifically, videos) as they unfold over time. We thereby tested whether lonely people actually process the world in idiosyncratic ways, rather than only exaggerating or misperceiving how dissimilar others’ views are to their own (which could lead them to feel misunderstood, even if they actually see the world similarly to those around them). We found evidence for such idiosyncrasy: lonely individuals’ neural responses during free viewing of the videos were dissimilar to peers in their communities, particularly in brain regions (e.g., regions of the default-mode network) in which similar responses have been associated with shared psychological perspectives and subjective understanding. Our findings were robust even after controlling for demographic similarities, participants’ overall levels of objective social isolation, and their friendships with each other. These results suggest that being surrounded predominantly by people who see the world differently from oneself may be a risk factor for loneliness, even if one is friends with them.

Social Disconnection and Living Arrangements among Older Adults: The Singapore Chinese Health Study

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Although living alone is associated with social disconnection, older adults could be socially disconnected despite living with others. Understanding the factors associated with social disconnection by living arrangement could help identify vulnerable older adults in the community. We examined the sociodemographic and health factors associated with social disconnection among two groups of older adults: those living alone and those living with others. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We used data from 16,943 community-dwelling older adults from the third follow-up of the Singapore Chinese Health Study (mean age: 73 years, range: 61–96 years). We defined social disconnection as having no social participation and scoring in the lowest decile on the Duke Social Support Scale of perceived social support. We ran logistic regression models to study the sociodemographic (age, gender, and education) and health (self-rated health, instrumental limitations, cognitive function, and depression) factors associated with social disconnection, stratified by living arrangement. <b><i>Results:</i></b> About 6% of our participants were socially disconnected. Although living alone was significantly associated with social disconnection (OR 1.93, 95% CI: 1.58–2.35), 85.6% of socially disconnected older adults lived with others, most of them (92%) with family. Lower education level, cognitive impairment, fair/poor self-rated health, instrumental limitations, and depression were independently associated with social disconnection. Among those living alone, men were more likely to experience social disconnection than women (OR 2.18, 95% CI: 1.43–3.32). <b><i>Discussion/Conclusion:</i></b> Though living alone is associated with social disconnection, most socially disconnected individuals lived with family. Community interventions could focus on those in poor health despite living with family and older men living alone.