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The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood
OBJECTIVES: From a theoretical point of view, older adults may not necessarily face a greater risk of becoming lonely than middle-aged adults but are more likely at a disadvantage in fighting loneliness. Therefore, in this study, we differentiate between the risk of becoming lonely and the risk of r...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10561886/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37431978 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbad099 |
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author | Huxhold, Oliver Henning, Georg |
author_facet | Huxhold, Oliver Henning, Georg |
author_sort | Huxhold, Oliver |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVES: From a theoretical point of view, older adults may not necessarily face a greater risk of becoming lonely than middle-aged adults but are more likely at a disadvantage in fighting loneliness. Therefore, in this study, we differentiate between the risk of becoming lonely and the risk of remaining lonely. METHODS: A large longitudinal data set representative of the German noninstitutionalized population from 40 to 85 years of age (N = 15,408; 49% female participants) was used in the analysis. Lagged logistic regression models were estimated to investigate the effect of earlier experiences of severe loneliness on the risk of being lonely after three years across middle age and late adulthood. Individual differences in health, views on aging, and social activities were taken into account to explore their role in age differences in the risk of remaining lonely. RESULTS: The analysis revealed marginal age differences in the risk of becoming lonely but a marked age gradient regarding the risk of remaining lonely. Lonely older adults who were older than 75 years of age were more likely to remain lonely after three years than lonely middle-aged adults. Controlling for individual differences in health, views on aging as social loss, and social activities accounted for this age difference. DISCUSSION: Interventions against loneliness may prioritize older age groups because losses in capacities, shifts in motivations, and a degraded opportunity structure render it increasingly less likely that older adults leave a state of loneliness on their own accord. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10561886 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-105618862023-10-10 The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood Huxhold, Oliver Henning, Georg J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Psychological Sciences OBJECTIVES: From a theoretical point of view, older adults may not necessarily face a greater risk of becoming lonely than middle-aged adults but are more likely at a disadvantage in fighting loneliness. Therefore, in this study, we differentiate between the risk of becoming lonely and the risk of remaining lonely. METHODS: A large longitudinal data set representative of the German noninstitutionalized population from 40 to 85 years of age (N = 15,408; 49% female participants) was used in the analysis. Lagged logistic regression models were estimated to investigate the effect of earlier experiences of severe loneliness on the risk of being lonely after three years across middle age and late adulthood. Individual differences in health, views on aging, and social activities were taken into account to explore their role in age differences in the risk of remaining lonely. RESULTS: The analysis revealed marginal age differences in the risk of becoming lonely but a marked age gradient regarding the risk of remaining lonely. Lonely older adults who were older than 75 years of age were more likely to remain lonely after three years than lonely middle-aged adults. Controlling for individual differences in health, views on aging as social loss, and social activities accounted for this age difference. DISCUSSION: Interventions against loneliness may prioritize older age groups because losses in capacities, shifts in motivations, and a degraded opportunity structure render it increasingly less likely that older adults leave a state of loneliness on their own accord. Oxford University Press 2023-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC10561886/ /pubmed/37431978 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbad099 Text en © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
spellingShingle | THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Psychological Sciences Huxhold, Oliver Henning, Georg The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood |
title | The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood |
title_full | The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood |
title_fullStr | The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood |
title_full_unstemmed | The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood |
title_short | The Risks of Experiencing Severe Loneliness Across Middle and Late Adulthood |
title_sort | risks of experiencing severe loneliness across middle and late adulthood |
topic | THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Psychological Sciences |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10561886/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37431978 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbad099 |
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