Distressed yet bonded: A longitudinal investigation of the COVID-19 pandemic’s silver lining effects on life satisfaction.

Guan, Yanjun; Jiang, Da; Wu, Chaorong; Deng, Hong; Su, Shangyao; Buchtel, Emma E.; Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua

Abstract

It is a common understanding that the 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) significantly
harmed mental health. However, findings on changes in overall life satisfaction have been
mixed and inconclusive. To address this puzzling phenomenon, we draw upon the domain specific perspective of well-being and research on catastrophe compassion and propose that
the pandemic can have opposing effects on mental health and communal satisfaction, which
then differently relate to people’s overall life satisfaction. Longitudinal analyses of the
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics (HILDA) Survey of Australia (N = 12,093)
showed that while there was a greater decrease in mental health in the first COVID-19
pandemic year (2019-2020) than in previous years (2017-2019), an increase in communal
satisfaction also occurred, demonstrating a potential silver lining effect of the pandemic on
people’s satisfaction with family, community and neighborhood. Moreover, consistent with
socioemotional selectivity theory, changes in mental health, communal satisfaction and life
satisfaction were related to age such that older adults generally reported less harmful and
more beneficial psychological changes. We further found that age was associated with
stronger associations of mental health and communal satisfaction with life satisfaction during
the pandemic year. Overall, our findings speak to the importance of communal life in life
satisfaction during the pandemic and age-related differences in the process, shedding light on
the need to devise customized support to address inequalities in pandemic effects on public
well-being.

Citation

Guan, Y., Jiang, D., Wu, C., Deng, H., Su, S., Buchtel, E. E., & Chen, S. X. (2023). Distressed yet bonded: A longitudinal investigation of the COVID-19 pandemic’s silver lining effects on life satisfaction. American Psychologist, 79(2), 268–284. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001188

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 6, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 13, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 11, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 11, 2023
• Journal: American Psychologist
• Print ISSN: 0003-066X
• Electronic ISSN: 1935-990X
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 79
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 268–284
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001188
• Keywords: General Psychology; General Medicine
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1715756