Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health

Abstract Social interactions play an extremely important role in maintaining health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated physical distancing measures, however, restricted the number of people one could physically interact with on a regular basis. A large percentage of social interact...

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Autores principales:	Razia S. Sahi, Miriam E. Schwyck, Carolyn Parkinson, Naomi I. Eisenberger
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8e599a96696246138e270aee51fe9e5d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8e599a96696246138e270aee51fe9e5d2021-12-02T18:02:23ZHaving more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health10.1038/s41598-021-97421-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/8e599a96696246138e270aee51fe9e5d2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97421-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Social interactions play an extremely important role in maintaining health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated physical distancing measures, however, restricted the number of people one could physically interact with on a regular basis. A large percentage of social interactions moved online, resulting in reports of “Zoom fatigue,” or exhaustion from virtual interactions. These reports focused on how online communication differs from in-person communication, but it is possible that when in-person interactions are restricted, virtual interactions may benefit mental health overall. In a survey conducted near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (N 2020 = 230), we found that having a greater number of virtual interaction partners was associated with better mental health. This relationship was statistically mediated by decreased loneliness and increased perceptions of social support. We replicated these findings during the pandemic 1 year later (N 2021 = 256) and found that these effects held even after controlling for the amount of time people spent interacting online. Convergent with previous literature on social interactions, these findings suggest that virtual interactions may benefit overall mental health, particularly during physical distancing and other circumstances where opportunities to interact in-person with different people are limited. Open Science Framework repository: https://osf.io/6jsr2/ .Razia S. SahiMiriam E. SchwyckCarolyn ParkinsonNaomi I. EisenbergerNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Razia S. Sahi Miriam E. Schwyck Carolyn Parkinson Naomi I. Eisenberger Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health
description	Abstract Social interactions play an extremely important role in maintaining health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated physical distancing measures, however, restricted the number of people one could physically interact with on a regular basis. A large percentage of social interactions moved online, resulting in reports of “Zoom fatigue,” or exhaustion from virtual interactions. These reports focused on how online communication differs from in-person communication, but it is possible that when in-person interactions are restricted, virtual interactions may benefit mental health overall. In a survey conducted near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (N 2020 = 230), we found that having a greater number of virtual interaction partners was associated with better mental health. This relationship was statistically mediated by decreased loneliness and increased perceptions of social support. We replicated these findings during the pandemic 1 year later (N 2021 = 256) and found that these effects held even after controlling for the amount of time people spent interacting online. Convergent with previous literature on social interactions, these findings suggest that virtual interactions may benefit overall mental health, particularly during physical distancing and other circumstances where opportunities to interact in-person with different people are limited. Open Science Framework repository: https://osf.io/6jsr2/ .
format	article
author	Razia S. Sahi Miriam E. Schwyck Carolyn Parkinson Naomi I. Eisenberger
author_facet	Razia S. Sahi Miriam E. Schwyck Carolyn Parkinson Naomi I. Eisenberger
author_sort	Razia S. Sahi
title	Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health
title_short	Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health
title_full	Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health
title_fullStr	Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health
title_full_unstemmed	Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health
title_sort	having more virtual interaction partners during covid-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8e599a96696246138e270aee51fe9e5d
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Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health

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