Alleviating loneliness during COVID-19: The impact of neighbor cohesion and social connections in England

This paper investigates the role of pre-pandemic levels of social interactions in mitigating the impact of mobility restrictions, implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19, on feelings of loneliness. Using individual-level data from the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study (U.K.HLS) on ’Understanding Society,’ we analyze the relationship between loneliness and both neighborhood social cohesion and individual social networks, both before and during the pandemic. Our analysis reveals that both social cohesion in the neighborhood where people live and good social relations (i.e., having close friends) play a protective role in alleviating the adverse effects of pandemic-related restrictions on loneliness. On the contrary, we do not find evidence of benefits coming from time spent on digital social networks. This underscores the critical importance of fostering and maintaining in person social connections, even in the face of challenges posed by the pandemic.