Has COVID-19 been the great leveler? The changing use of intergenerational digital communications amongst older people in England during the pandemic
Has COVID-19 been the great leveler? The changing use of intergenerational digital communications amongst older people in England during the pandemic
This research examines patterns of intergenerational digital contact before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Wave nine and the first Wave of the ELSA COVID-19 Sub-study. Multivariate binary logistic regressions were applied to assess the determinants of frequent intergenerational digital communication. The findings indicate that when the pandemic began, many older persons shifted towards more frequent intergenerational digital contact, but a small minority shifted away. As a result, the pre-existing gender gap amongst older people in the use of digital communication technology narrowed, as did the disparity associated with family relationship closeness. However, pre-pandemic gaps in the intergenerational digital connection between internet users and non-users widened during the pandemic. Overall, the results suggest that the pandemic resulted in more frequent digitally-mediated social interactions within the family, which may strengthen ties between older and younger family members.
1517-1529
Vlachantoni, Athina
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Falkingham, Jane
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Evandrou, Maria
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Qin, Min
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July 2023
Vlachantoni, Athina
06a52fbb-f2a0-4c81-9fbc-d6efc736c6cb
Falkingham, Jane
8df36615-1547-4a6d-ad55-aa9496e85519
Evandrou, Maria
cd2210ea-9625-44d7-b0f4-fc0721a25d28
Qin, Min
10d55bfb-f7e6-409a-bcc5-6d2ba1f743e8
Vlachantoni, Athina, Falkingham, Jane, Evandrou, Maria and Qin, Min
(2023)
Has COVID-19 been the great leveler? The changing use of intergenerational digital communications amongst older people in England during the pandemic.
Journal of Applied Gerontology, 42 (7), .
(doi:10.1177/07334648231153385).
Abstract
This research examines patterns of intergenerational digital contact before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Wave nine and the first Wave of the ELSA COVID-19 Sub-study. Multivariate binary logistic regressions were applied to assess the determinants of frequent intergenerational digital communication. The findings indicate that when the pandemic began, many older persons shifted towards more frequent intergenerational digital contact, but a small minority shifted away. As a result, the pre-existing gender gap amongst older people in the use of digital communication technology narrowed, as did the disparity associated with family relationship closeness. However, pre-pandemic gaps in the intergenerational digital connection between internet users and non-users widened during the pandemic. Overall, the results suggest that the pandemic resulted in more frequent digitally-mediated social interactions within the family, which may strengthen ties between older and younger family members.
Text
07334648231153385
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 9 January 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 January 2023
Published date: July 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council Centre for Population Change [grant number ES/K007394/1] at the University of Southampton; and ESRC CPC- Connecting Generations Centre [grant number ES/W002116/1].
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
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Local EPrints ID: 474652
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/474652
ISSN: 0733-4648
PURE UUID: 8ebecf28-d797-4d1e-86b5-c46c217ed63e
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Date deposited: 28 Feb 2023 17:46
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:45
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