Introduction

During the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the first UK lockdown was imposed in March 2020 [1], with people being ordered to stay at home unless for essential reasons such as grocery shopping or exercise. People aged over 70 were at first classified as especially vulnerable to the virus [2] and advised to stay at home earlier than other age groups at the start of the pandemic, while young people faced their own unique challenges owing to closures of schools, universities, and workplaces. Evidence suggests that many people in the UK experienced heightened levels of stress, anxiety and fear during the pandemic [3, 4]. However, younger people on average scored highest on measures of loneliness, depression, anxiety, while older adults scored the lowest [5]. Nonetheless, many older adults still experienced complex and adverse psychological responses to events, including depression linked to loneliness [6] and fear arising from perceived lack of health service availability during the pandemic [7]. Concerns have been raised regarding the disproportionate, long-term psychosocial impacts of COVID-19 on both younger and older adults [8, 9]. Taken together, these factors point to a need for further exploration into the factors that helped buffer the consequences resulting from the pandemic affecting these groups. Such research is important for understanding why some people managed to cope better than others, and for preparing for potential future pandemics.

A narrative review on other infectious disease outbreaks over the last two decades indicated that while adverse psychological consequences were common in previous pandemics, positive psychological experiences were also reported and various coping strategies were used to help deal with the unique challenges of an outbreak [10]. Such positive psychological experiences may include positive emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioural functioning [11]. For example, amid the SARS pandemic, it was reported that some people engaged in healthier lifestyle behaviours and cared more for their own mental health [12, 13]. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, quantitative findings indicate that people had more opportunities to explore new hobbies, enjoyed more time outdoors and developed greater gratitude for personal relationships [14, 15].

Qualitative research also highlights how people may interpret their pandemic experience positively, including having a greater sense of solidarity with others [16], and a sense of empowerment from increased lifestyle flexibility [17]. The PERMA model of positive psychology [18], which encapsulates positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement, has been used to describe aspects of positive well-being and may be useful when interpreting the positive responses people have reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it has been argued that the model’s conceptualisation of well-being does not explicitly address the management of negative emotions pertinent to adverse circumstances of the pandemic [19]. Therefore, recognising positive psychological experiences across domains of the PERMA model in tandem with how individuals deal with negative stressors, may provide a more holistic understanding of well-being of people in younger and older age groups during the pandemic.

How people deal with stressors reflect the concept of coping—crucial psychological and behavioural factors for how individuals draw on behavioural and cognitive efforts to manage stress [20]. Various coping strategies have been theoretically identified [21], including problem-focused coping (i.e., use of planning, restraint, or social support for practical reasons) and emotion-focused coping (i.e., acceptance, denial, positive reinterpretation, or social support for emotions). In the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of socially supported coping (i.e., drawing on social support) has been found to be especially linked with greater improvements in mental health during earlier stages of lockdown restrictions [22], which highlights the key role of social networks in the maintenance of well-being [23]. Moreover, some individual behaviours, such as those involving outdoor activities, have been shown to predict better well-being during the pandemic [24]. Hence the coping behaviours that people engaged in during the pandemic may protect well-being in a way that cuts across and transcends certain coping styles. Furthermore, understanding coping behaviours that individuals perceive as helpful in managing the unique challenges of the pandemic may offer valuable insights into resilience levels during the pandemic.

An evolving body of research suggests that the positive psychological experiences and coping behaviours which protect mental health and well-being during the pandemic may differ across age. In one UK study, young people demonstrated a significantly higher level of positive lifestyle changes than older adults across several domains, such as increased quality time with family, and increased physical exercise [15]. However, when compared to older adults, young people reported greater psychosocial difficulties and more adverse mental health consequences[25, 26], and some have postulated that part of this is due to significant lifestyle changes owing to the pandemic [27], precarious employment [28] and education interuptions affecting long-term career planning [29]. Nonetheless, it has been observed that young people appeared to show quicker recovery from their symptoms compared to older adults during the initial stages of pandemic restrictions in the UK [30], thereby reflecting the potential for resilience of young people and the need to understand how older adults can be better supported over the longer term. Emerging qualitative findings have lent support to the premise of resilience of older adults and young people respectively as both groups drew on pre-existing and new coping strategies to protect their well-being during the pandemic [31]. Greater sense of coherence (SOC), which encapsulates an individual’s ability to comprehend, manage and make sense of a new health threat, has been found to support well-being [32]. While it has been argued that SOC strengthens with age, adverse health impacts in old age may moderate SOC among older adults [33], hence age-related factors may influence capacity to cope with some of life’s adversities.

Limited studies to date have explored in depth the experiences of young people and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic through a positive psychology lens, to investigate the resources that people draw on to support themselves through pandemic-related distress. To address these gaps in the literature, we sought to answer the following question: “what were the positive psychological experiences or coping behaviours that protected mental health and well-being of young people and older adults living in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic?”

Methods

Results

Participants were 28 older adults aged 70 to 93 years (M = 77.1, SD = 5.9) and 40 young people aged 13 to 24 years (M = 18.3, SD = 3.4). The majority of participants were White British (75%) and female (57%). Among younger participants, most were in secondary school or university (76%) and living with parent(s) (73%). Among older participants, most were retired (79%) and half were living with a partner/spouse (50%). Forty participants reported having existing physical (n = 31) and/or mental health condition(s) (n = 12). Participant characteristics are summarised in Table 1.

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Table 1. Self-reported demographic characteristics of participants.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279205.t001

Themes and corresponding sub-themes on positive psychological experiences and helpful coping behaviours are illustrated in Tables 2 and 3 respectively and described below. Many participants described several positive psychological experiences including engagement in self-fulfilling activities, increased sense of social cohesion and greater personal growth. In addition, many spoke of engaging in various helpful coping behaviours including use of problem-focused strategies to manage pandemic-related stressors, strategies to regulate thoughts and emotions, as well as giving and receiving social and community support.

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Table 2. Themes and subthemes on positive psychological experiences, with summary of similarities and differences between young and older participants.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279205.t002

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Table 3. Themes and subthemes on helpful coping behaviours, with summary of similarities and differences between young and older participants.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279205.t003

Discussion

In this qualitative study, we investigated positive psychological experiences and helpful coping behaviours perceived by young people and older adults in the UK in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were many similarities in the broad types of psychological experiences that younger and older adults had, as well as similarities in the broad coping behaviours employed, although the details of how these experiences and behaviours were perceived and enacted varied by age. Nonetheless, we identified several common potential components of future interventions to support both young people and older adults in times of pandemics, including activities that foster a sense of community and connectedness (such as “Clap for Carers”), resources that support a stable routine (such as self-paced online learning) and platforms that offer digital means of engaging with hobbies (either on the internet or via mobile phone apps).

One of our salient findings was an increased sense of social cohesion across age groups, congruent with evidence indicating greater gestures of solidarity [16] and the heightened value of personal relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic [14], which reinforce the value of platforms that foster these activities to take place. Our results build on previous research by suggesting how a heightened sense of loneliness and engaging in collective action may encourage a greater community spirit across the age groups amidst social distancing restrictions. While it has been suggested that many young people suffered from loss of social connections during the pandemic [29], a novel finding from our study is that some young participants acknowledged how social restrictions have inadvertently weakened some social ties yet strengthened other key friendships, which facilitated a sense of increased relational closeness. Results suggest that many participants felt that their social networks evolved towards strengthened relationships and stronger community ties, which in turn, improved perceptions of overall well-being.

Several pandemic-related experiences reported by participants appeared to be shaped by their different life stages (i.e., young versus older adulthood) and these factors further shaped subsequent coping behaviours. For instance, younger participants highlighted reduced academic pressure or being financially secure as enablers to exploring new skills. Emerging evidence suggests that younger people, as compared to older adults, had more financial worries during the pandemic [43] and having financial support has been shown to be a protective factor for coping among young people [44] –hence there is additional need for financial and occupational support toward young people in the future, coming out of the pandemic. The protective role of financial security also resonated with some older participants who described feeling grateful to be retired and financially secure compared with other groups. Moreover, many participants across both age groups discussed a greater sense of appreciation for smaller things in life during the pandemic, reflecting a sense of gratitude which can encourage psychological resilience [45]. Furthermore, our finding that some participants felt a greater sense of resilience within themselves supports the argument that adverse circumstances of living (such as those present during the COVID-19 pandemic) may encourage personal growth and resilience [46]. Our results expand previous findings of personal growth among young people during the pandemic [47] by suggesting that young participants experienced personal growth from having recognised and developed their ability to protect their own mental health in the future.

With regards to helpful coping behaviours, we noted some similarities and differences across age groups. Several young and older participants expressed mental health benefits of engaging in arts and cultural activities remotely, consistent with existing evidence for the use of arts to help cope with emotional experiences during the pandemic [48]. Our results further suggest how increasing digital access to arts during the pandemic is especially valuable to older adults who may otherwise be less likely to engage in arts through digital means as compared to young people. Among young people, our results on the use of digital mental health apps in supporting mental health highlights the promise of such tools in equipping individuals with self-care skills in the future [49]. Evidence suggests that engaging with nature is linked with more positive emotions and fewer symptoms of anxiety, particularly amid stringent lockdown measures during the pandemic [50]. We found that the main differences in this and with several other coping behaviours between young and older age groups were attributed to work-related stress. For instance, some young participants specifically highlighted how spending time outdoors helped them de-stress while adapting to remote working and learning during the pandemic. This could be taken into account by employers and education providers in the event of future social distancing restrictions.

In view of evidence which suggests increased volunteering behaviours in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic [51], our findings highlight potential age differences in one aspect of volunteering whereby in-person volunteering was especially prominent among young participants. Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial development [52] posits that adolescent years present a conflict of identity versus role confusion whereby adolescents navigate their independence and develop a sense of self. In-person volunteering may have facilitated such aspects of growth as young participants described gaining a sense of being useful while escaping the confines of home during the pandemic. Additionally, young people may have been less worried about their risks from COVID-19 when compared with older adults [53], hence readily sought out in-person volunteering opportunities. Furthermore, a novel finding of our study is that some older adult participants found it beneficial for their wellbeing to volunteer for research surveys during the pandemic, highlighting how volunteering opportunities must be accessible to all age groups. This extends existing literature that being useful in this manner could add meaning to individuals’ lives [54], by potentially helping people to make sense of life during the pandemic.

Conclusions

While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented many challenges in various aspects of life of young people and older adults, participants’ use of various coping strategies reflect their resilience. In brief, participants described coping behaviours that protect their well-being, with older participants adapting lifestyles in the context of worries about their vulnerability to COVID-19. Moreover, this study highlights positive psychological experiences during the pandemic such as heightened connectedness and increased feelings of resilience. While all six themes were relevant both to younger and older adults, there were nuances in the experience and enactment of behaviours between each age group. These findings may be useful to guide tailored support for well-being among young and older age groups during a pandemic and post-pandemic recovery.

Supporting information

Acknowledgments

The researchers are grateful for the support of AgeUK, Alzheimer’s Society, Healthwise Wales and British Youth Music Theatre during recruitment. We are grateful to Anna Roberts, Joanna Dawes, Louise Baxter, Sara Esser, Rana Conway and Tom May for their help with conducting interviews. The authors extend thanks to study participants for their valuable contributions.