Psychological well-being among older adults during the COVID-19 outbreak: a comparative study of the young–old and the old–old adults

• Published in: International Psychogeriatrics Vol. 32; no. 11; pp. 1365 - 1370
• Main Authors: López, J., Perez-Rojo, G., Noriega, C., Carretero, I., Velasco, C., Martinez-Huertas, J.A., López-Frutos, P., Galarraga, L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.11.2020
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Brief Report; Comparative studies; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - psychology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Health Status; Hospitalization; Humans; Independent Living; Likert scale; Male; Medical research; Mental Health - statistics & numerical data; Older people; Pandemics; Personal development; Questionnaires; Resilience, Psychological; SARS-CoV-2; Social Support; Sociodemographics; Spain; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Variables; Spain; personal strengths; well-being; stress; crisis; purpose in life; older adults; personal growth; eudaimonia
• ISSN: 1041-6102; 1741-203X
• DOI: 10.1017/S1041610220000964

The COVID-19 outbreak could be considered as an uncontrollable stressful life event. Lockdown measures have provoked a disruption of daily life with a great impact over older adults’ health and well-being. Nevertheless, eudaimonic well‐being plays a protective role in confronting adverse circumstances, such as the COVID-19 situation. This study aims to assess the association between age and psychological well-being (personal growth and purpose in life). Young–old (60–70 years) and old–old (71–80 years) community-dwelling Spaniards (N = 878) completed a survey and reported on their sociodemographic characteristics and their levels of health, COVID-19 stress-related, appraisal, and personal resources. Old–old did not evidence poorer psychological well-being than young–old. Age has only a negative impact on personal growth. The results also suggest that the nature of the COVID-19 impact (except for the loss of a loved one) may not be as relevant for the older adults’ well-being as their appraisals and personal resources for managing COVID-related problems. In addition, these results suggest that some sociodemographic and health-related variables have an impact on older adults’ well-being. Thus, perceived-health, family functioning, resilience, gratitude, and acceptance had significant associations with both personal growth and purpose in life. Efforts to address older adults’ psychological well-being focusing on older adults’ personal resources should be considered.