Online Social Connection as a Buffer of Health Anxiety and Isolation During COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 has given rise to a myriad of social, psychological, and health-related complications. The specific mental health implications of COVID-19 are still being uncovered, but we know that there are likely to be negative outcomes for many people. This is particularly the case for vulnerable members of the community, such as those with high health anxiety, and under conditions where individuals feel isolated or disconnected from others. The objective of this study was to examine whether the level of socially motivated Internet use acts as a buffer of the relationship between health anxiety, isolation behaviors, and depression. Participants (N = 473; 67.3 percent female; M age = 23.03, SD = 7.50) from Australia completed self-report measures during the height of the national pandemic restrictions (April-May 2020). A regression analysis revealed positive relationships between health anxiety and isolation behaviors on depression and highlighted a three-way interaction effect. Specifically, health anxiety was significantly negatively associated with depression when participants engaged in fewer isolation behaviors. However, at higher levels of isolation behaviors, the relationship between health anxiety and depression was attenuated for participants with greater levels of online social connection. The findings suggest that online social connection buffered the negative effects of health anxiety under conditions of isolation. These results offer promising avenues to mitigate against vulnerabilities during the pandemic and highlight the need to promote alternate social support mechanisms in the absence of face-to-face connection.

Too Lonely to Help: Early Adolescents’ Social Connections and Willingness to Help During COVID‐19 Lockdown

“…Moreover, their loneliness was linked to their virtual connections during lockdown, which significantly correlated with the number of friends they reported having in class in face-to-face interactions (in normal times-Study 2). Our results are consistent with those of recent studies among adults which emphasize the role of social connections as a key factor in predicting mental and physical health during COVID-19 (Nitschke et al, 2021;Stuart, O'Donnell, O'Donnell, Scott, & Barber, 2021).…”

COVID-19: Factors associated with psychological distress, fear, and coping strategies among community members across 17 countries

“…Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, were generated for categorical variables; means and standard deviations (SD) were generated for continuous variables. Psychological distress (based on the K-10 scoring) was categorised into low (score 10-15) and moderate to very high (score 16-50), fear of COVID-19 (based on the FCV-19S scoring) was categorised into low (score 7-21) and high (score [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], and coping (based on the BRCS scoring) was categorised into low (score 4-13) and medium to high (score [14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

COVID-19: Factors Associated with Psychol­­­ogical Distress, Fear, and Coping Strategies among Community Members Across 17 Countries

“…[15] Such distress and fear could also be related to 'infodemic' through the increased use of social media. [16] Having a history of mental illness and experience of family violence was shown to aggravate depression, anxiety and stress amongst women during the pandemic. [17] In addition, concerns of exposure to COVID-19 amongst family members could have accentuated their anxiety and distress.…”