Social butterflies cope with isolation as well as introverts

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2020-05-13 09:01

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Contrary to some theories, people who consider themselves social butterflies do not appear to have been harder hit by social distancing measures. This study of people aged over-35 years, living in the UK or USA, found that a preference or aversion for solitude, as reported at the start of the study, did not significantly affect measures of 'ill-being' like anxiety, depression or loneliness in social isolation. However, the authors note that they do not know how preference and motivation for solitude might have changed during this time.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

This study surveyed living alone adults and older adults during early weeks of self-isolation in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Reporting of ill-being in terms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness did not increase during this time. Neither personal preference nor motivation for solitude protected individuals from, or aggravated, ill-being across the two weeks. People who had concerns about their health reported more ill-being during this period of time. Many of our participants experienced stressful events related to COVID-19. The most common was the impact on job security, reported by just over 1/3 of the sample.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page

Journal/
conference: Royal Society Open Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Reading, UK

Funder: This work was supported in part by a grant from the European Research Council

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