Being cut off from social identity resources has shaped loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal interview study with medically vulnerable older adults from the United Kingdom

Older adulthood is often a time of identity change arising from physical decline and social isolation which can increase loneliness. These effects are thought to be exacerbated by public health threats such as COVID-19 which disproportionately restrict older adults, though research has yet to fully explore how this occurs. We used a Qualitative Longitudinal Research (QLR) interview approach to follow nine vulnerable older adults (Mage=79.4) for fourteen months through 2019 and 2020 in order to understand their unfolding experiences of pandemic-related isolation. A theoretically guided thematic analysis found that participants initially experienced “Threatened Social Contact” due to age-related vulnerabilities which reduced their ability to manage “Being Categorised as a Vulnerable Older Person”. Consequently, participants experienced a “Restriction in Ability to Gain or Maintain Identities” leading to “Undermining of Reciprocal Support” and “Wellbeing hindered by Loneliness-Related Fears”. Findings highlighted that COVID-19 exacerbates existing negative age-related categorisations, contributing to a loss of reciprocal support in older adulthood. More generally, interventions to ameliorate loneliness among older adults would benefit from explicitly addressing ageism as well as enhancing group-based connectedness.