Fall From Grace: Increased Loneliness and Depressiveness Among Extraverted Youth During the German COVID-19 Lockdown

Alt, Philipp; Reim, Julia und Walper, Sabine (2021): Fall From Grace: Increased Loneliness and Depressiveness Among Extraverted Youth During the German COVID-19 Lockdown. In: Journal of Research on Adolescence, Bd. 31, Nr. 3: S. 678-691

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially affected young people's social and emotional life. Based on longitudinal data provided by 843 adolescents (57.3% female) of the German Family Panel (pairfam), we investigated effects of extraversion on changes in loneliness and depressiveness between 2018 and 2019 and the first German COVID-19 lockdown in the first half of 2020. Findings of latent change modeling show that highly extraverted adolescents experienced a larger rise in depressiveness, and a third of this total effect was mediated through increases in loneliness. These results contradict previous work evidencing lower depressiveness among extraverted youth and challenge the notion of extraversion as a mere protective factor. Under conditions of restricted access to others, this personality trait may become a burden.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Psychologie und Pädagogik > Department Pädagogik und Rehabilitation
• Themengebiete: 100 Philosophie und Psychologie > 150 Psychologie
• ISSN: 1050-8392
• Sprache: Englisch