==== Front
Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.3479
igaa057.3479
Abstracts
Session 10500 (Late Breaking Poster)
COVID-19 Pandemic
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Living Alone During COVID-19: Social Contact and Emotional Well-Being among Older Adults
Ng Yee To 1 Fingerman Karen 1 Zhang Shiyang 1 Britt Katherine 1 Colera Gianna 2 Birditt Kira 3 Charles Susan 4 1 
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States
2 
Texas State University, Austin, Texas, United States
3 
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
4 
BSS, Irvine, California, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”951 951
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak and the associated physical distancing measures dramatically altered the social world for most older adults, but people who live alone may have been disproportionately affected. The current study examined how living alone was related to social contact and emotional well-being among older adults during the pandemic. Adults (N = 226) aged 69+ completed a brief survey assessing their living situation, social contact with different social partners (in person, by phone, electronically), and emotions during the morning, afternoon and evening the prior day. Older adults who live alone were less likely to see others in person or to receive or provide help, and reported less positive emotion the prior day than those who lived with others. Living alone was associated with more positive emotions concurrent with in-person contact. In contrast, phone contact was related to higher levels of negate affect among those living alone, but not among those who live with others. Findings suggest older adults who live alone may be more reactive to social contact during the COVID 19 outbreak than older adults who reside with others. In-person contact appears to confer distinct benefits not available via telephone contact, suggesting that possible interventions during the pandemic may work best with safe forms of in-person contact.