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Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment of Coping with Loneliness amid COVID-19 in Germany

Author

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  • Luisa Wegner

    (Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany)

  • Matthias N. Haucke

    (Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
    Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany)

  • Stephan Heinzel

    (Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany)

  • Shuyan Liu

    (Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused people to feel isolated, left out, and in need of companionship. Effective strategies to cope with such unrelenting feelings of loneliness are needed. In times of COVID-19, we conducted a smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study with 280 lonely participants in Germany over 7 months, where a long and hard second national lockdown was in place. Each participant reported their daily loneliness and coping strategies for loneliness once in the evening for 7 consecutive days. We found that managing emotions and social relationships were associated with decreased feelings of loneliness, while using a problem-focused coping strategy was associated with increased feelings of loneliness amid COVID-19. Interestingly, managing emotions was particularly effective for easing loneliness during the second lockdown. Females tend to use more emotion-focused coping strategies to overcome their loneliness compared to males. Our study highlights the importance of managing emotions against loneliness throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Designing technology that provides emotional support to people may be one of the keys to easing loneliness and promoting well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Luisa Wegner & Matthias N. Haucke & Stephan Heinzel & Shuyan Liu, 2022. "Smartphone-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment of Coping with Loneliness amid COVID-19 in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-7, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:7:p:3946-:d:780124
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Luca Simione & Camilla Gnagnarella & Giulia Spina & Giuseppe Bersani, 2021. "Help-Seeking as a Maladaptive Coping Style in the Pandemic Scenario: What Worked and What Did Not for Facing This New Stressor," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-17, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Jiawei, 2023. "The relationship between loneliness and consumer shopping channel choice: Evidence from China," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

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