The association between depression and emotional and social loneliness in older persons and the influence of social support, cognitive functioning and personality: A cross-sectional study
Abstract
Background We investigated the association between old age depression and emotional and social loneliness. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed using data from the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons (NESDO). A total of 341 participants diagnosed with a depressive disorder, and 125 non-depressed participants were included. Depression diagnosis was confirmed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Emotional and social loneliness were assessed using the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Socio-demographic variables, social support variables, depression characteristics (Inventory of Depressive Symptoms), cognitive functioning (Mini Mental State Examination) and personality factors (the NEO- Five Factor Inventory and the Pearlin Mastery Scale) were considered as possible explanatory factors or confounders. (Multiple) logistic regression analyses were performed. Results Depression was strongly associated with emotional loneliness, but not with social loneliness. A higher sense of neuroticism and lower sense of mastery were the most important explanatory factors. Also, we found several other explanatory and confounding factors in the association of depression and emotional loneliness; a lower sense of extraversion and higher severity of depression. Limitations We performed a cross-sectional observational study. Therefore we cannot add evidence in regard to causation; whether depression leads to loneliness or vice versa. Conclusions Depression in…
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Loneliness is associated with depression.
“Loneliness has also been shown to be associated with a wide range of physical and mental health outcomes, such as reduced cognitive function [23], depression [24–26], and mortality [3].”
Both loneliness and social isolation are related to reduced social support availability.
“Both loneliness and social isolation are related to reduced social support availability [25,26].”
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“Socio-demographic variables, social support variables, depression characteristics (Inventory of Depressive Symptoms), cognitive functioning (Mini Mental State Examination) and personality factors (the NEO- Five Factor Inventory and the Pearlin Mastery Scale) were considered as possible explanatory factors or confounde…”
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The effect of loneliness on depression: A meta-analysis
Erzen, E., & Çikrikci, Ö. (2018) · International Journal of Social Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/0020764018776349 · Cited by 838 · see citing works
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“Both loneliness and social isolation are related to reduced social support availability [25,26].”
BackgroundMin, S. H., Topaz, M., Lee, C., & Schnall, R. (2023) · GeroScience · doi:10.1007/s11357-023-00729-1 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
- Authors
- Peerenboom, L., Collard, R. M., Naarding, P., & Comijs, H. C.
- Affiliations
- Pro Persona (NL)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- GGNet (NL)
- Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Peerenboom, L.
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-08
- Volume
- 182
- Pages
- 26-31
- ISSN
- 0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1994431376
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 10.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Fonds NutsOhra
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- geriatric depression, emotional loneliness, social loneliness, social support, cognitive function, personality traits, neuroticism, mastery, extraversion, depression severity
- MeSH terms
- Neuroticism, Aged, Anxiety Disorders, Cognition, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depressive Disorder, Emotions, Female, Humans, Loneliness, Male, Netherlands, Personality, Personality Disorders, Personality Inventory, Personality Tests, Severity of Illness Index, Social Support, Geriatric Assessment
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