INTRODUCTION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of loneliness increased significantly due to the challenging and adverse context arising from this global health emergency. OBJECTIVE: To classify adults living alone according to perceived loneliness and affectivity and to examine their association with symptoms of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: The design of this study was cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational. The sample consisted of 418 adults living alone, recruited through a non-probabilistic snowball sampling procedure using an online survey distributed via social media and email. To analyze the data, a cluster analysis was applied using the k-means method, the chi-squared test and the Odds Ratio statistic. RESULTS: Two homogeneous groups were identified: Group 1 (n = 233) characterized by high levels of perceived loneliness, low levels of positive affect and high levels of negative affect; Group 2 (n = 185) showed low levels of perceived loneliness, high levels of positive affect and low levels of negative affect. Cluster 1 was more likely to have symptoms of psychological distress than cluster 2. CONCLUSIONS: To summarize, loneliness among individuals who reside alone can have an impact on the likelihood of experiencing psychological distress and adverse effects.
Oliveira et al. (Fri,) studied this question.