COVID-19 Pandemic and Positive Ageing

Abstract

Given the havoc of the worldwide coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the older population, this article outlines a positive ageing framework for understanding and assuaging the havoc. Positive ageing follows the dual ageing ethics of living positively for self (maintaining health and functional independence) and for the betterment of others (other individuals and society at large). However, it suffers from the pandemic because the pandemic exacerbates ageism, impedes vaccine uptake and erodes social networks that have been an important resource and source of human connectedness and support for elders. The suffering thus amplifies the havoc of the pandemic on elders’ physical, psychological and social health. Preventing that suffering and advancing positive ageing, possibly by cultivating social networks and through social reforms to harness the silver demographic dividend of older workers for post-pandemic national recovery, are advisable, considering extant and emerging research evidence.

Not All Levels of Social Re-Inclusion Allow for Recovery from Negative Outcomes of Social Exclusion: The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem

“…Whatever its form, social exclusion severs human connectedness and adversely affects the cognition [2], behavior [3], and affect [4] of individuals. In recent times, the exclusion in the form of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, widely used as a type of infection control, has damaged the mental health of millions of people worldwide [5][6][7]. Researchers have simulated social exclusion using the Cyberball paradigm [8], which has proven to be effective in demonstrating the harm of even a relatively brief experimentally induced experience of social exclusion [9].…”