Changes in adolescents’ daily-life solitary experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: an experience sampling study

Abstract

Abstract Background Adolescent solitude was drastically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As solitude is crucial for adolescent development through its association with both positive and negative developmental outcomes, it is critical to understand how adolescents’ daily-life solitary experiences changed as a result of the pandemic. Methods Using three waves of Experience Sampling Method data from a longitudinal study, we compared adolescents’ daily-life solitary experiences in the early (n T1 =100; M Age =16.1; SD Age =1.9; 93% girls) and mid-pandemic (n T2 =204; M Age =16.5; SD Age =2.0; 79% girls) to their pre-pandemic experiences. Results We found that adolescents with lower levels of pre-pandemic social support and social skills reported wanting to be alone less and feeling like an outsider more at both time points during the pandemic. In the mid-pandemic wave, adolescents with higher levels of pre-pandemic social support and social skills reported decreases in positive affect compared to the pre-pandemic wave. Conclusion This study shows that adolescents’ daily-life solitary experiences worsened throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. There should be continued concern for the wellbeing of all adolescents, not only those already at risk, as effects of the pandemic on mental health might only manifest later.

Keywords

• Solitude
• COVID-19
• Adolescence
• Daily life
• Longitudinal
• Experience sampling