Loneliness and social engagement in older adults: A bivariate dual change score analysis.
Abstract
Few longitudinal studies have explored the impact of loneliness on social engagement. We investigated whether loneliness would result in decreased social engagement over time among older adults and also whether the converse, that low levels of social engagement would predict increases in loneliness, held. Additionally, we explored potential mechanisms (specifically, memory and depressive symptomatology as mediators) in the bidirectional relationship(s) between loneliness and social engagement. Data from 4,714 adults over 50 years of age, participating in Waves 3, 4, and 5 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (between 2006 and 2011), were analyzed using bivariate dual change scores within structural equation models. Higher levels of loneliness were inversely associated with social engagement over time, and high levels of social engagement were inversely associated with loneliness over time. To address the 2nd aim, we used structural equation modeling to evaluate potential mediators of the bidirectional relationships between loneliness and changes in social engagement. Depressive symptomatology, semantic memory, and episodic memory were found to partially mediate the relationship between loneliness measured at baseline and social engagement 4 years later. In addition, these variables also partially mediated the relationship between social engagement at baseline and loneliness 4 years later. A comparison of the 2 models revealed that the model proposing a pathway from loneliness to social engagement (as mediated by depressive symptoms and memory) provided a better fit to the data. Implications for theories of loneliness are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Social isolation and loneliness are distinct concepts and are only weakly correlated with each other.
“That the two concept are distinct is supported by several studies that show that they are only weakly correlated with each other [18–21].”
From Examining social isolation and loneliness in combination in relation to social support and psychological distress using Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging (CLSA) data (2020) · cites this paper as [19]
The Discussion (p. 8) reports a small association between loneliness and social engagement over time. But the study measures social engagement as participation in formal activities (Discussion, p. 9), not social isolation, and the cited passages do not establish that social isolation and loneliness are weakly correlated. (LLM, conf=0.79)
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“…change refer to the change between two neighbored variables (i.e., change in NA between T1 and T2=ΔNA12; change in LO between T1 and T2=ΔLO12) and represents a more local change (cf. McHugh Power et al., 2019) of a variable relative to the previous state of that variable (Kievit et al., 2018).”
Background
- Authors
- McHugh Power, J. E., Steptoe, A., Kee, F., & Lawlor, B. A.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Queen's University Belfast (GB)
- Trinity College Dublin (IE)
- Venue
- Psychology and Aging
- Published
- 2019-02
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 152-162
- ISSN
- 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1498
- OpenAlex
- W2889337733
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7
- FWCI
- 6.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Maynooth University ePrints and eTheses Archive (Maynooth University) (acceptedVersion)
- NORMA (acceptedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (submittedVersion)
- TRAP@NCI (National College of Ireland) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Centre for Ageing Research and Development
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Keywords
- loneliness, social engagement, older adults, bidirectional relationship, depressive symptoms, semantic memory, episodic memory, mediation, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Depression, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Loneliness, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Memory, Middle Aged, Social Isolation, Cohort Studies
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