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Third Spaces in Crisis: Social Isolation and Drug-Related Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Curry, Kayla
Curry, Kayla
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Abstract
The importance of social connection for well-being is well established in the social demographic literature, with social isolation linked to negative health outcomes such as substance use, domestic violence, as well as worse mental and physical health (Holt-Lunstad et al. 2017). However, social isolation became a necessary public health action to prevent the transmission of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence, places of informal social interaction outside of home and work, or third places, such as coffee shops, bars, restaurants, libraries, and gyms, were forced to close. Increased social isolation during the pandemic and subsequent closures of community third places may contribute to negative health behaviors and outcomes such as substance use and related mortality since overdoses are more likely to happen when using alone. Utilizing various data sets including third place data from the National Neighborhood Data Archive, New York Times COVID death data, county level demographic data from the American Community Survey, and other county level measurements, this project aims to examine the moderating effect of COVID-19 social isolation mandates on drug-related mortalities across areas with varying definitions of third space availability. Identifying the role of third spaces as a facilitator of social connection in vulnerable communities may give insight for future public health interventions aimed at reducing the negative health effects of social isolation on drug use mortality.
Description
These are the slides from a presentation given at Southern Demography Association Annual Meeting on 10/17/2024.
Date
2024-10-17
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Social isolation, Drug mortality, COVID-19, Drug deaths, Third spaces