Loneliness from Young Adulthood to Old Age: Explaining Age Differences in Loneliness.

ABSTRACT: Prior research in non-U.S. samples has found a complex nonlinear relationship between loneliness and age. This research has shown that established predictors of loneliness - poor health, being unmarried, living alone, and having infrequent social interactions - help to explain age differences in loneliness. However, while some variables were found to be universal predictors of loneliness at all ages, others were relevant in specific age groups only. In this study, we describe age differences in frequency of loneliness from age 18 to 89+ years in the U.S., and examine age differences in predictors of loneliness from age-specificity and age-normative perspectives. We used cross-sectional nationally representative data from the General Social Survey (N = 2,477) and found a nonlinear relations

SUBMITTER: Hawkley LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8734589 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature