Place Attachment and Resource Loss During a Pandemic: An Ecological Systems Perspective

As we have learned from Bowlby’s (1969) classic work on attachment and loss in Chapter 1 (see also Chapter 5), secure attachment relationships can support health and well-being. This attachment perspective lays the foundation for conceptualizing and understanding the emotional distress that may be experienced when place attachment disruption occurs. In this chapter, we discuss how the saliency of resource loss during the COVID-19 pandemic may have precipitated experiences of place attachment disruption. We also explore connections between the context of resource loss and social markers that can influence place attachment disruption, along with the implications of such disruption for increasing vulnerability to unfavorable economic, interpersonal, physical, and psychological outcomes.