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. 2021;22(5):2323-2342.
doi: 10.1007/s10902-020-00326-5. Epub 2020 Oct 20.

Loneliness and Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Associations with Personality and Emotion Regulation

Danièle A Gubler  1 , Lisa M Makowski  1 , Stefan J Troche  1 , Katja Schlegel  1
Affiliations

Loneliness and Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Associations with Personality and Emotion Regulation

Danièle A Gubler et al. J Happiness Stud. 2021.

Abstract

The present study examined how neuroticism, extraversion, and emotion regulation were related to loneliness and well-being during 6 weeks of major public life restrictions in the Covid-19 pandemic in Switzerland. Cross-sectional results from 466 participants showed that neuroticism and emotion regulation strategies were associated with higher loneliness and lower well-being. However, in contrast to prior research, associations of extraversion with loneliness and well-being were weak and were qualified by interactions with emotion regulation. For introverts, maladaptive cognitive strategies such as rumination or catastrophizing were related to higher levels of loneliness. For extraverts, emotion suppression was related to lower levels of affective well-being. Individuals with low maladaptive regulation reported higher well-being the longer the public life restrictions were in place at the time of study participation. These findings suggest that first, extraversion may lose some of its protective value for loneliness and well-being when opportunities to engage in social activities are limited; second, that loneliness and well-being do not decrease over 6 weeks of public life restrictions; and third, that future studies should further investigate the moderating role of emotion regulation on the link between personality, loneliness, and well-being.

Keywords: Emotion regulation; Extraversion; Loneliness; Neuroticism; Well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Left (a) loneliness under public life restrictions as a function of extraversion and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Right (b) loneliness under public life restrictions as a function of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Left a Well-being under public life restrictions as a function of extraversion and the level of suppression of emotions. Right b Well-being under public life restrictions as a function of extraversion and neuroticism
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Left a Well-being under public life restrictions as a function of maladaptive regulation and suppression of emotions. Right b Well-being under public life restrictions as a function of time and maladaptive emotion regulation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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