Dataset Information

Reactive, Agentic, Apathetic, or Challenged? Aging, Emotion, and Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Advanced age is generally associated with improved emotional well-being, but the coronavirus 2019 pandemic unleashed a global stressor that gravely threatened the physical well-being and ostensibly challenged the emotional well-being of older adults disproportionately. The current study investigated differences in emotional experiences and coping strategies between younger and older adults during the pandemic, and whether these differences were accounted for by age differences in appraisal of the pandemic.

Research design and methods

We asked younger (n = 181) and older (n = 176) adult participants to report their stress, appraisals of the pandemic, emotions, and the ways in which they were coping with the pandemic.

Results

Results indicated that older adults experienced less stress and less negative affect and used greater problem-focused coping and less avoidant coping in response to the pandemic than younger adults. Furthermore, age differences in affect and coping were partially accounted for by age differences in appraisals of the pandemic.

Discussion and implications

Despite their objectively higher risk of illness and death due to the pandemic, older adults experienced less negative affect and used more agentic coping strategies than younger adults.

SUBMITTER: Young NA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7799097 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Reactive, Agentic, Apathetic, or Challenged? Aging, Emotion, and Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Young Nathaniel A NA Waugh Christian E CE Minton Alyssa R AR Charles Susan T ST Haase Claudia M CM Mikels Joseph A JA

The Gerontologist 20210201 2

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Advanced age is generally associated with improved emotional well-being, but the coronavirus 2019 pandemic unleashed a global stressor that gravely threatened the physical well-being and ostensibly challenged the emotional well-being of older adults disproportionately. The current study investigated differences in emotional experiences and coping strategies between younger and older adults during the pandemic, and whether these differences were accounted for by ...[more]

PMID: 33277989

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Project description:IntroductionThe risk of getting SARS-CoV-2 infection, worries about exposing loved ones, anxiety and frustration, emotional and physical exhaustion, burn out, a feeling of being overwhelmed, and struggles and challenges with parenting are a few among many factors that affect nurses' personal lives and professional functioning. The aim of the research is to assess nurses' level of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and their sense of self-efficacy, and to learn what coping strategies they use.Methodology/methodsThe study was carried out online and based on the diagnostic poll method, using an original survey questionnaire, the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES 10-40), the Mini-COPE questionnaire (0-3), and the Perceived Stress Scale PSS-10 (0-40). The respondent group was made up of nurses (n = 220) who provide health services in inpatient and outpatient health care institutions in the northeastern region of Poland. The statistical analysis was performed using the STATISTICA 13.0 package (StatSoft). The distribution of variables was checked with Shapiro-Wilk tests. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare two independent samples, while the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare more samples. The adopted statistical significance level was p < 0.05. Multivariate regression analysis was applied to determine which factors were related to the level of stress.ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 43.3 years. The vast majority were women (96.4). The mean work experience of the nurses was over 20 years (58.2%). A total of 62.3% worked directly with patients in hospitals, including 11.8% respondents working at COVID-19 units and 37.7% working at primary care institutions. The analyses show that the respondents represented a high level of stress (PSS-10 - 20.9), related to their work experience as a nurse (β -0.250, p = 0.014), the number of hours worked a month (β 0.156, p = 0.015), and self-assessed health status (β -0.145, p = 0.037). They declared an average sense of self-efficacy (GSES - 29.1), which significantly depended on the nurses' places of employment (p = 0.044). Out of stress coping strategies (Mini-COPE), the younger nurses mentioned venting (p = 0.010), instrumental support (p = 0.011), sense of humour (p = 0.013) and self-blame (0.031). Practice nurses also chose the strategy of behavioral disengagement (p = 0.032), and nurse managers chose the strategy of planning (p = 0.018).ConclusionsThe experience of the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to implement some strategies to protect nurses' mental health and to take extensive prevention measures in critical situations. Special attention should be given to nurses who are younger and have shorter work experience. It is also important to monitor nurses' working time and health status, and those who work at outpatient health care institutions should be given more support and information.

Dataset Information

Reactive, Agentic, Apathetic, or Challenged? Aging, Emotion, and Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background and objectives

Research design and methods

Results

Discussion and implications

Publications

Reactive, Agentic, Apathetic, or Challenged? Aging, Emotion, and Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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