Loneliness Trajectories in Adults across the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Latent Growth Modelling Study

Abstract Purpose: Loneliness may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study was to assess i) correlates of loneliness among Irish adults during the first implementation of social distancing measures in the COVID-19 pandemic, ii) trajectories of loneliness during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and iii) predictors of changes in loneliness during this time. Methods: Longitudinal nationally representative panel data were gathered from 1041 participants aged 18-80 across four timepoints during 2020, the first collected from 31st March 2020. Latent growth models in a structural equation modelling framework were used to evaluate change in loneliness over time. Results: Participants were on average moderately lonely at the onset of the pandemic (intercept estimate = 1.91). Higher baseline loneliness was associated with being younger, not being in a relationship, being employed in the healthcare sector, lower levels of neighbourhood belongingness, and higher levels of depression. On average, loneliness levels were highly stable throughout 2020. Those working in the healthcare sector experienced a decline in loneliness over time, as did those with higher baseline levels of depressive symptomatology. Conclusions: We describe correlates of loneliness at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland in 2020, as well as predictors of changes in loneliness across the first year of the pandemic. Those working in the healthcare sector had high initial loneliness which then declined, potentially reflecting adaptation to the demands of the pandemic. Results are discussed in the context of potentially informative theoretical frameworks of loneliness.