Middle-aged and older adults’ psychosocial functioning trajectories before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence for multidirectional trends.

Abstract

= 11.58), based on data of the German Ageing Survey. Longitudinal multilevel regression models revealed that mean-level change toward more negative ATOA over time was aggravated by an additional shift toward more pessimistic ATOA in Summer 2020. In contrast, the mean-level change toward older subjective ages over time was interrupted by a shift toward younger subjective ages in Summer 2020. This shift was more pronounced among chronologically younger individuals. Depressive symptoms remained on average stable over time, but there was a temporary increase in Summer 2020. No pandemic-related change was observed for life satisfaction and self-rated health. Our findings suggest that different psychosocial functioning indicators reveal a different susceptibility to "COVID-19 effects," but all changes were temporary, potentially reflecting processes of adaptation. We discuss our results in the context of established theories, such as socioemotional selectivity theory or set-point theory of well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

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