Study of loneliness and wisdom in 482 middle-aged and oldest-old adults: a comparison between people in Cilento, Italy and San Diego, USA
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: There has been growing research interest in loneliness and wisdom in recent decades, but no cross-cultural comparisons of these constructs using standardized rating measures in older adults, especially the oldest-old. This was a cross-sectional study of loneliness and wisdom comparing middle-aged and oldest-old adults in Cilento, Italy and San Diego, United States. METHOD: = 138 and 85, respectively). RESULTS: After controlling for education, there were no significant group differences in levels of loneliness, while on SD-WISE the Cilento ≥90 group had lower scores compared to the other three groups. There was a strong inverse correlation between loneliness and wisdom in each of the four subject groups. Loneliness was negatively associated while wisdom was positively associated with general health, sleep quality, and happiness in most groups, with varying levels of significance. CONCLUSION: These results largely support cross-cultural validity of the constructs of loneliness and wisdom, and extend previous findings of strong inverse correlations between these two entities. Loneliness has become a growing public health problem, and the results of our study suggest that wisdom could be a protective factor against loneliness, although alternative explanations are also possible. Research on interventions to reduce loneliness by enhancing wisdom in older adults is needed.
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Recent clinical and biological studies have reported a strong inverse relationship between loneliness and wisdom, especially its compassion component.
“A number of recent clinical and biological studies have reported a strong inverse relationship between loneliness and wisdom, especially its compassion component38, 39, 40.”
From Mental health care for older adults: recent advances and new directions in clinical practice and research (2022) · cites this paper as [39]
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References 63 · Cited by 39
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Achenbaum WA, & Orwoll L (1991). Becoming Wise: A Psycho-Gerontological Interpretation of the Book of Job. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 32(1), 21– 39. doi: 10.2190/419r-x8fc-q6ne-0m85 2022434 · DOI
- Hawkley LC, Hughes ME, Waite LJ, Masi CM, Thisted RA, & Cacioppo JT (2008). From social structural factors to perceptions of relationship quality and loneliness: the Chicago health, aging, and social relations study. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 63(6), S375– S384 PMC2769562 19092047
- Jeste DV, Savla GN, Thompson WK, Vahia IV, Glorioso DK, Martin A. v. S., … Kraemer HC (2013). Association between older age and more successful aging: critical role of resilience and depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(2), 188– 196 PMC3593664 23223917
- Jeste DV, & Vahia IV (2008). Comparison of the conceptualization of wisdom in ancient Indian literature with modern views: focus on the Bhagavad Gita. Psychiatry, 71(3), 197– 209. doi: 10.1521/psyc.2008.71.3.197 18834271 PMC2603047 · DOI
- National Academies of Sciences, E., & Medicine. (2020). Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults: Opportunities for the Health Care System. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 32510896
- Thomas ML, Kaufmann CN, Palmer BW, Depp CA, Martin AS, Glorioso DK, … Jeste DV (2016). Paradoxical trend for improvement in mental health with aging: a community-based study of 1,546 adults aged 21–100 years. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 77(8), e1019 27561149 PMC5461877
- Authors
- Jeste, D. V., Di Somma, S., Lee, E. E., Nguyen, T. T., Scalcione, M., Biaggi, A., Daly, R., Liu, J., Tu, X., Ziedonis, D., Glorioso, D., Antonini, P., & Brenner, D.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Department of Medical-Surgery Sciences and Translational Medicine, University of Rome La Sapienza
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- Nouscom (Italy) (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Jeste, Dilip V.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Aging & Mental Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-10
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 2149-2159
- ISSN
- 1360-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1364-6915
- PMC
- PMC8012404
- OpenAlex
- W3090820735
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 6.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Aging & Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH119375, K23MH118435, R01MH135147)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Keywords
- loneliness, wisdom, oldest old, middle-aged adults, cross-cultural comparison, cross-cultural validity, sleep quality, happiness, health status, protective factors, Cilento, San Diego
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cross-Sectional Studies, Happiness, Humans, Italy, Loneliness, Middle Aged, United States, Protective Factors
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