In their article, Folk, D. et al. research the area of social connection decline during the first wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. What Folk et al. found in two separate within-group studies does not reflect the reality of all individuals affected by the Coronavirus; however, they do believe the trends have merit.

Contrary to popular social belief, within the study, the researchers find that extroverts do not appear to suffer from higher social isolation than their introverted counterparts. This may be in part be due to the size of the social networks extroverted individuals tend to cultivate around them.

A secondary finding with Folk, D. et al.’s study is that overall, individuals reported increased tiredness, which is associated with the Pandemic. However, overall life satisfaction is not substantially affected within the group’s self-reported data. The researches theorized a reason for this might be the mutually shared trauma of the Pandemic creating a mutual understanding of hardship for all individuals affected.

As far as overall population, individuals are not impacted heavily on the life satisfaction and isolation scales used within the study. Individuals who did report feeling higher isolation also report a larger affect on their energy when compared to their less isolated counterparts.

The findings of the study point to an unexpected resilience in the research participants. As coaches, resilience and adaptability can be key words you see thrown about during these times. In practicing these aspects, you can improve your responsiveness to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and aid your clientele in their continual growth as well.

If you would like to read the full article, you can find it here: http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.365

IOC's Tips of the Week are authored by Austin Matzelle