{"doi":"10.1093/gerona/glab371","title":"Associations Between Changes in Loneliness and Social Connections, and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Women’s Health Initiative","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Older women have faced significant disruptions in social connections during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Whether loneliness increased or whether a change in loneliness from pre- to intrapandemic period was associated with mental health during the pandemic is unknown. METHODS: Older women (n = 27 479; mean age 83.2 [SD: 5.4] years) completed surveys in mid-2020, including questions about loneliness, living arrangements, changes in social connections, and mental health. Loneliness was also previously assessed in 2014-2016. We examined whether loneliness changed from the pre- to intrapandemic period and explored factors associated with this change. In multivariable models, we investigated the association of changes in loneliness and social connections with mental health. RESULTS: Loneliness increased from pre- to intrapandemic levels. Factors associated with worsening loneliness included older age, experiencing stressful life events, bereavement, histories of vascular disease and depression, and social connection disruptions. Factors associated with a decrease in loneliness included identifying as Black, engaging in more frequent physical activity, being optimistic, and having a higher purpose in life. A 3-point increase in loneliness scores was associated with higher perceived stress, higher depressive, and higher anxiety symptoms. Social connection disruptions showed modest or no associations with mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Loneliness increased during the pandemic in older women and was associated with higher stress, depressive, and anxiety symptoms. Our findings point to opportunities for interventions targeting lifestyle behaviors, well-being, disrupted social connections, and paying closer attention to those with specific medical and mental health histories that may reduce loneliness and improve mental health.","journal":"The Journals of Gerontology Series A","year":2021,"id":173004,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":25,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.6293,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":592541,"name":"Roberta M. Ray","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":600928,"name":"Nancy Fúgate Woods","orcid":"0000-0001-8396-3467","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":11268,"name":"JoAnn E. Manson","orcid":"0000-0002-9426-7595","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":390224,"name":"Candyce H. Kroenke","orcid":"0000-0002-6128-3118","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":541078,"name":"Yvonne L. Michael","orcid":"0000-0002-1494-8498","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":272433,"name":"Aladdin H. Shadyab","orcid":"0000-0002-9693-0522","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":710017,"name":"Jaymie R. Meliker","orcid":"0000-0002-6408-8596","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":260937,"name":"Jiu‐Chiuan Chen","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":710768,"name":"Lisa Johnson","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":546386,"name":"Charles P. Mouton","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":11827,"name":"Nazmus Saquib","orcid":"0000-0002-2819-2839","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":455165,"name":"Julie C. Weitlauf","orcid":"0000-0003-3960-7275","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":243122,"name":"Jean Wactawski‐Wende","orcid":"0000-0003-3096-9595","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":521821,"name":"Michelle J. Naughton","orcid":"0000-0001-6037-1522","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":482247,"name":"Sally A. Shumaker","orcid":null,"position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":243116,"name":"Garnet L. Anderson","orcid":"0000-0001-5087-7837","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":245915,"name":"Joseph S. Goveas","orcid":"0000-0003-4517-3848","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":56,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:46:45.768135Z","pmid":"34915558","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}