IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cexwps/07.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Changes of Social Networks during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Who is affected and what are its Consequences for Psychological Strain?

Author

Listed:
  • Bertogg, Ariane
  • Koos, Sebastian

Abstract

Contact restrictions and distancing measures are among the most effective non-pharmaceutical measures to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV2 virus. Yet, research has only begun to understand the wider social consequences of these interventions. This study investigates how individuals' social networks have changed since the outbreak of the pandemic and how these changes relate to psychological strain. Based on an online survey of the German adult population, four types of change are distinguished: loss, gain, and intensification of ties, as well as pandemic-related conflicts. One in two respondents has experienced at least one of these four changes. Loss is more frequently reported than gain of ties, and intensification occurred more frequently than conflicts. Loss of ties and conflicts are furthermore associated with higher levels of psychological strain.

Suggested Citation

  • Bertogg, Ariane & Koos, Sebastian, 2021. "Changes of Social Networks during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Who is affected and what are its Consequences for Psychological Strain?," Working Papers 07, University of Konstanz, Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality. Perceptions, Participation and Policies".
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cexwps:07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/248707/1/1782271414.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    2. Arpino, Bruno & Pasqualini, Marta & Bordone, Valeria & Solé-Auró, Aïda, 2020. "Indirect consequences of COVID-19 on people’s lives. Findings from an on-line survey in France, Italy and Spain," SocArXiv 4sfv9, Center for Open Science.
    3. Per Block & Marion Hoffman & Isabel J. Raabe & Jennifer Beam Dowd & Charles Rahal & Ridhi Kashyap & Melinda C. Mills, 2020. "Social network-based distancing strategies to flatten the COVID-19 curve in a post-lockdown world," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(6), pages 588-596, June.
    4. Greyling, Talita & Rossouw, Stephanie & Adhikari, Tamanna, 2020. "A tale of three countries: How did Covid-19 lockdown impact happiness?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 584, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Alexander Karaivanov, 2020. "A social network model of COVID-19," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-33, October.
    6. Dirk Witteveen & Eva Velthorst, 2020. "Economic hardship and mental health complaints during COVID-19," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(44), pages 27277-27284, November.
    7. Sabat, Iryna & Neuman-Böhme, Sebastian & Varghese, Nirosha Elsem & Barros, Pedro Pita & Brouwer, Werner & van Exel, Job & Schreyögg, Jonas & Stargardt, Tom, 2020. "United but divided: Policy responses and people’s perceptions in the EU during the COVID-19 outbreak," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(9), pages 909-918.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Storopoli, Jose & Braga da Silva Neto, Wilson Levy & Mesch, Gustavo S., 2020. "Confidence in social institutions, perceived vulnerability and the adoption of recommended protective behaviors in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    2. Dagorn, Etienne & Dattilo, Martina & Pourieux, Matthieu, 2024. "The role of populations’ behavioral traits in policy-making during a global crisis: Worldwide evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    3. Hsin-Yu Kuo & Su-Yen Chen & Yu-Ting Lai, 2021. "Investigating COVID-19 News before and after the Soft Lockdown: An Example from Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Ariane Bertogg & Sebastian Koos, 2022. "Who Received Informal Social Support During the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany, and Who Did Not? The Role of Social Networks, Life Course and Pandemic-Specific Risks," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 585-607, September.
    5. Patino-Artaza, Helena & King, Lewis C. & Savin, Ivan, 2024. "Did COVID-19 really change our lifestyles? Evidence from transport energy consumption in Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    6. Jayles, Bertrand & Cheong, Siew Ann & Herrmann, Hans J., 2022. "Modeling the resilience of social networks to lockdowns regarding the dynamics of meetings," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 602(C).
    7. Judit Temesvary & Andrew Wei, 2021. "Domestic Lending and the Pandemic: How Does Banks' Exposure to Covid-19 Abroad Affect Their Lending in the United States?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-056r1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 17 Nov 2021.
    8. Jacqueline Ruth & Steffen Willwacher & Oliver Korn, 2022. "Acceptance of Digital Sports: A Study Showing the Rising Acceptance of Digital Health Activities Due to the SARS-CoV-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-16, January.
    9. Hannah Carver & Tracey Price & Danilo Falzon & Peter McCulloch & Tessa Parkes, 2022. "Stress and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Frontline Homelessness Services Staff Experiences in Scotland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-20, March.
    10. Foliano, Francesca & Tonei, Valentina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2024. "Social restrictions, leisure and well-being," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Phurichai Rungcharoenkitkul, 2021. "Macroeconomic effects of COVID‐19: A mid‐term review," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 439-458, October.
    12. Carlos Díaz & Sebastian Fossati & Nicolás Trajtenberg, 2022. "Stay at home if you can: COVID‐19 stay‐at‐home guidelines and local crime," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 1067-1113, December.
    13. Wang, Wei & Miao, Wei & Liu, Yongdong & Deng, Yiting & Cao, Yunfei, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on the ride-sharing industry and its recovery: Causal evidence from China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 128-141.
    14. Joël Cariolle & Florian Léon, 2022. "How internet helped firms to cope with COVID-19," Working Papers hal-03592617, HAL.
    15. Xiao Chen & Hanwei Huang & Jiandong Ju & Ruoyan Sun & Jialiang Zhang, 2022. "Endogenous cross-region human mobility and pandemics," CEP Discussion Papers dp1860, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Alejandro G. Graziano & Yuan Tian, 2023. "Trade disruptions along the global supply chain," Discussion Papers 2023-06, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    17. Khan, Nawab Ali & Azhar, Mohd & Rahman, Mohd Nayyer & Akhtar, Mohd Junaid, 2022. "Scale development and validation for usage of social networking sites during COVID-19," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    18. Yekaterina Chzhen & Jennifer Symonds & Dympna Devine & Júlia Mikolai & Susan Harkness & Seaneen Sloan & Gabriela Martinez Sainz, 2022. "Learning in a Pandemic: Primary School children’s Emotional Engagement with Remote Schooling during the spring 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown in Ireland," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1517-1538, August.
    19. Mirko Licchetta & Giovanni Mattozzi & Rafal Raciborski & Rupert Willis, 2022. "Economic Adjustment in the Euro Area and the United States during the COVID-19 Crisis," European Economy - Discussion Papers 160, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    20. James, Nick & Menzies, Max, 2022. "Global and regional changes in carbon dioxide emissions: 1970–2019," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 608(P1).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Network Change; Social Ties; Health Risks; Covid-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:cexwps:07. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.exc.uni-konstanz.de/en/inequality/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.