The Effects of Social Isolation and Parasocial Relationships During Covid-19 Towards Loneliness Amongst Emerging Adulthood in Indonesia

BETHARI ALAMANDA W, Kwartarini Wahyu Yuniarti, Prof., M.Med.Sc., Ph.D., Psikolog

2022 | Skripsi | S1 PSIKOLOGI

Meningkatnya pandemi Covid-19 membuat warga di seluruh dunia harus menjaga jarak fisik untuk mengurangi penyebaran virus. Selama masa isolasi, tingkat kesepian meningkat dibandingkan saat sebelum pandemi, terutama di kalangan emerging adults. Hubungan sosial sangat penting dalam suatu tahap perkembangan, dan karena terisolasi secara sosial, media sosial menjadi pengganti interaksi sosial di dunia nyata. Hubungan parasosial menjadi topik yang menarik bagi banyak orang, karena kemampuannya yang dapat meniru hubungan sosial di dunia nyata. Untuk mengidentifikasi signifikansinya, penelitian ini membahas pengaruh isolasi sosial dan hubungan parasosial terhadap kesepian selama pandemi, di kalangan emerging adults di Indonesia. Penelitian ini dilakukan pada 583 orang dengan rentang usia 18-29 tahun. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui metode survei online, dilanjutkan dengan analisis regresi berganda untuk menginterpretasikan data. Hasilnya menghasilkan signifikansi antara isolasi sosial dan kesepian, tetapi tidak ada korelasi antara hubungan parasosial dan kesepian.

With the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, citizens across the globe had to practice physical distancing in order to mitigate the spread of virus. During this period of having to stay at home, loneliness levels have increased compared to days before the pandemic, especially among emerging adults. Social connections are highly important in specific stages of development, and because of being socially isolated, social media acted as a substitute of real social interactions. Parasocial relationships became a topic of interest to many, with its ability to imitate real-life relationships. To identify the significance, this study explores the effects of social isolation and parasocial relationship towards loneliness during the pandemic, among emerging adults in Indonesia. 583 emerging adults were studied in this research, with the age range of 18-29 years old. The data collection was through an online survey method, followed with a multiple regression analysis to interpret the data. The outcome resulted to a significance between social isolation and loneliness, but no correlation of such between parasocial relationship and loneliness.

Kata Kunci : Covid-19, loneliness, social isolation, parasocial relationships