The role of social interaction modality for well-being in older adults

It is well-established that more frequent social interaction is associated with higher well-being across the lifespan. The present study examines the role of frequency of interactions via different modalities on older adults' weekly well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, where people had to adapt their communication behavior and reduce in-person contact due to precautionary measures. We use data from 98 participants (age: M = 71, SD = 5), who documented their weekly frequency of communication via four interaction modalities as well as their loneliness, positive affect, and negative affect over up to 64 weeks. Results show that participants with overall higher frequency of face-to-face, telephone, and text-based interaction than others report higher levels of positive affect and lower levels of negative affect and loneliness than others. Participants report higher levels of well-being during weeks when they report more frequent face-to-face, telephone, and text-based interaction than their individual average. Unexpectedly, participants report higher levels of negative affect during weeks with more video call interaction. Some effects of social interaction frequency on affect and loneliness are higher for face-to-face interactions versus other modalities. In addition, interaction effects at within-person level indicate that the effects of weekly telephone and text-based interaction frequency on loneliness are stronger in weeks with relatively few face-to-face interactions. Taken together, our findings suggest that social interactions via different modalities contribute to well-being, but that face-to-face interactions have the biggest effect. In addition, there is some evidence that telephone and text-based interaction may play a compensatory role. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).