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Disentangling Loneliness: Differential Effects of Subjective Loneliness, Network Quality, Network Size, and Living Alone on Physical, Mental, and Cognitive Health

SAGE Publications Inc
Journal of Aging and Health
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Objective: To examine whether different measures of social disconnectedness—subjective loneliness, network quality, network size, living alone—have differential effects on the health of older adults. Methods: We used a longitudinal sample of the German Aging Survey (N = 4,184) and analyzed seven measures of health (life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, depression, cognitive performance, physical functioning, and pulmonary function) via regression analyses. Results: We found that subjective loneliness and network quality best predicted mental health; contrarily, network size and living alone best predicted physical and cognitive health. Discussion: Different measures of social disconnectedness have differential effects on health. Therefore, using only global measures or one aspect of social disconnectedness might obfuscate potential health hazards. Researchers and practitioners should be mindful of differences between these measures and should include multiple aspects of social disconnectedness in their research and practice. Future studies should explore the causes why these measures and their effects differ.
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... Petersen et al. (2020) summarized that with regard to social isolation/exclusion of older adults, falls can lead to social exclusion (Hajek and König, 2017) or rather be a consequence of social isolation (Pohl et al., 2018); namely, living alone plays a role in the frequency of falls (Zhou et al., 2019), and the risk of falls increased for those living alone (jin Choi et al., 2014). Furthermore, social isolation and loneliness are associated with cognitive decline in both Western and Asian populations (Yu et al., 2021;Lara et al., 2019;Holwerda et al., 2014;Beller and Wagner, 2018;Griffin et al., 2020). In the Western population, loneliness is often a contributing factor to the onset of dementia (Rafnsson et al., 2020), as it increases the risk of cognitive decline in older adults (Boss et al., 2015). ...
... In the Asian population, both loneliness and social isolation indicated an association with decreased mental state and episodic memory (Yu et al., 2021). In both Asian and Western populations, a stronger negative relationship between social isolation and cognitive function than between loneliness (Yu et al., 2021;Griffin et al., 2020;Beller and Wagner, 2018). ...
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Social isolation and loneliness are two of the main causes of mental health problems or suicide, not only in younger adults but also in older adults. Thus, identifying an effective method to detect social isolation is important in the field of human-machine interaction. However, to the best of our knowledge, no effective method has been developed to elicit pseudosocial isolation tasks to evaluate social isolation detection systems for older adults. This study has two research aims: 1. To develop a virtual avatar conversation cyberball task to evoke pseudosocial isolation in older adults and, 2. to identify non-verbal indicators that replace social isolation in older adults. To achieve these objectives, 22 older men were recruited as participants. They were asked to communicate with two virtual avatars on a monitor and then to rate the follow-up questions provided to evaluate the level of social isolation and emotions; meanwhile, facial expressions and gaze patterns were recorded by a camera and an eye tracker. In the results, the developed virtual avatar conversation cyberball task successfully induced pseudosocial isolation in older adults, and this social isolation was detected by the intensity of inner/outer eyebrow and eyelid movements and the blink frequency.
... Similarly, when comparing subjective loneliness and network quality versus network size or living alone, loneliness predicted mental health while network size and living alone predicted physical and cognitive health [51]. Cornwell and Waite found that the association between SI or loneliness and mental health was supported by a strong association between loneliness and mental health and disappeared when loneliness was excluded from their models [52]. ...
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Background Pathways between social isolation (SI), loneliness and health are unclear. Aims To analyze the relationship between SI and loneliness with biomarkers of inflammation, cardiac and immune function, functional parameters, and mortality. Methods SI (Lubben Social Network Scale) from family, friends, and overall as well as loneliness (single direct question) were assessed at baseline in a population-based cohort study of 1459 community-dwelling adults aged 65 + in Germany. Serum biomarkers and functional parameters measured at baseline and at three-year follow-up included high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP), growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), high-sensitivity troponin I (hs-cTnI), high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-cTnT), gait speed, and hand grip strength. We used linear and Cox regression analyses adjusted for age and sex (model 1) and established confounders (model 2). Results High SI from friends was associated with small but significant adverse associations with some biomarkers (hs-CRP, GDF-15, hs-cTnT) at follow-up (model 1). High SI from family associated with NT-proBNP (model 2), high SI and moderate to severe loneliness with lower gait speed. Loneliness was linked to hs-CRP at baseline, but SI was a stronger predictor of biomarker levels. High SI overall (Hazard ratio 1.39, 95% CI 1.15; 1.67, model 2) was associated with increased 10-year mortality. Discussion Mainly SI from friends is linked to unfavorable biomarker profiles with small associations. Overall SI was negatively associated with functional parameters and positively with mortality. Conclusions Further research should confirm our findings using, e.g. a multidimensional assessment of loneliness.
... From a research standpoint, it appears sensible to study both objective-structural as well as subjective-emotional aspects; for example, living circumstances and loneliness and their interdependence (Beller & Wagner, 2018). ...
... As an older adult, loneliness is experienced differently depending upon the circumstances of one's life (Cohen-Mansfield & Eisner, 2020). Research has shown that loneliness among older adults is associated with mortality, depression, Alzheimer's disease (Beller & Wagner, 2018;Liu et al., 2016;Wilson et al., 2007), and increased risk of cardiovascular disease over a follow-up period of 5.4 years (Valtorta et al., 2018). The association between loneliness and health is bilateral. ...
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The revolutionary study of how the place where we grew up constrains the way we think, feel, and act, updated for today's new realities The world is a more dangerously divided place today than it was at the end of the Cold War. This despite the spread of free trade and the advent of digital technologies that afford a degree of global connectivity undreamed of by science fiction writers fifty years ago. What is it that continues to drive people apart when cooperation is so clearly in everyone's interest? Are we as a species doomed to perpetual misunderstanding and conflict? Find out in Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. A veritable atlas of cultural values, it is based on cross-cultural research conducted in seventy countries for more than thirty years. At the same time, it describes a revolutionary theory of cultural relativism and its applications in a range of professions. Fully updated and rewritten for the twenty-first century, this edition: Reveals the unexamined rules by which people in different cultures think, feel, and act in business, family, schools, and political organizations Explores how national cultures differ in the key areas of inequality, collectivism versus individualism, assertiveness versus modesty, tolerance for ambiguity, and deferment of gratification Explains how organizational cultures differ from national cultures, and how they can--sometimes--be managed Explains culture shock, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, differences in language and humor, and other aspects of intercultural dynamics Provides powerful insights for businesspeople, civil servants, physicians, mental health professionals, law enforcement professionals, and others Geert Hofstede, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Gert Jan Hofstede, Ph.D., is a professor of Information Systems at Wageningen University and the son of Geert Hofstede.
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Many older adults live alone. For example, in the United States, over 45 % of women over the age of 75 years live alone.1 Much attention has been placed on older adults who are living alone, because of the recent studies that have shown that both loneliness and social isolation are associated with poor health outcomes.1–4 These studies have also suggested that living alone is not necessarily indicative of having poor social support or of feeling lonely. While it may be reasonable to believe that living alone is a good proxy for these types of social measures, there is increasing recognition that the measures of social well-being are complex concepts and go beyond simply describing the situational facts of a person’s life. In actuality, social isolation and loneliness are complex self-perceptions that may not be fully captured by whether or not someone lives alone. This demands that as clinicians, we must dig deeper into a patient’s personal perspective. For example, measures of lonelin ...