An Examination of Coping Strategies that Moderated the Effects of COVID-19-Related Stress on Anxiety Among Older Adults in Aotearoa/NZ

Objectives: 1. To describe perceived stress and changes in anxiety and coping among older adults between 2018 and 2020. 2. To examine the moderating roles of social support, exercise, alcohol use, and smoking on the relationship between perceived stress and anxiety. Methods: Longitudinal data collected from 3275 participants ( M = 68.1 years) as part of the NZ Health, Work, and Retirement study’s 2018 and 2020 biennial surveys, were analyzed using hierarchical regression. Results: Older adults perceived COVID-19 as a low-level source of stress. Social support and alcohol use moderated the relationship between perceived mental stress and anxiety. At high-stress levels, only social support exerted a protective effect against the negative impact of stress on anxiety. Discussion: These findings support the general resilience of many older adults and highlight the effectiveness of coping strategies used by those groups who are more likely to be vulnerable to mental stress during a pandemic.