A Lonelier World after COVID-19: Longitudinal Population-Based Study of Well-Being, Emotional and Social Loneliness, and Suicidal Behaviour in Slovenia
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Krohne, Nina
Lavrič, Meta
Gomboc, Vanja
De Leo, Diego
Rojs, Lucia
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Background and Objectives: The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) goes beyond the consequences of the infectious disease, especially as the measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus have had a very profound impact on people’s social relationships and everyday lives. Several studies have investigated these effects, but there is a lack of longitudinal studies in Central Europe. Objective: The aim of our study was to observe changes in well-being, loneliness, and suicidal behaviour before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic using the same population-based cohort. Materials and Methods: A representative sample of 440 participants completed online questionnaires at four time points: 2019 (wave 0), 2021 (wave 1), 2022 (wave 2), and 2023 (wave 3). Results: The results show significant changes in the levels of well-being and loneliness over these periods. In particular, both social and emotional loneliness increased during the pandemic, while emotional loneliness increased to a greater extent without further decreases. Well-being appeared to increase after pandemic-related restrictions diminished but decreased again one year later. No significant changes concerning suicidal ideation were observed. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way in which people perceive their well-being and especially their relationships with others. From the data, we can conclude that people’s worldview is now lonelier than before the pandemic.
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Medicina
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60
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2
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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Sociology
Public health
Biomedical and clinical sciences
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Poštuvan, V; Krohne, N; Lavrič, M; Gomboc, V; De Leo, D; Rojs, L, A Lonelier World after COVID-19: Longitudinal Population-Based Study of Well-Being, Emotional and Social Loneliness, and Suicidal Behaviour in Slovenia, Medicina, 2024, 60 (2), pp. 312