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. 2016 Aug;28(5):775-95.
doi: 10.1177/0898264315611664. Epub 2015 Oct 21.

Longitudinal Relationship Between Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older Adults: Results From the Cardiovascular Health Study

Johanna Petersen  1 , Jeffrey Kaye  2 , Peter G Jacobs  2 , Ana Quinones  2 , Hiroko Dodge  2 , Alice Arnold  3 , Stephen Thielke  3
Affiliations

Longitudinal Relationship Between Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older Adults: Results From the Cardiovascular Health Study

Johanna Petersen et al. J Aging Health. 2016 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To understand the longitudinal relationship between loneliness and isolation.

Method: Participants included 5,870 adults 65 years and older (M = 72.89 ± 5.59 years) from the first 5 years of the Cardiovascular Health Study. Loneliness was assessed using a dichotomized loneliness question. Social isolation was assessed using six items from the Lubben Social Network Scale. Yearly life events were included to assess abrupt social network changes. Mixed effects logistic regression was employed to analyze the relationship between isolation and loneliness.

Results: Higher levels of social isolation were associated with higher odds of loneliness, as was an increase (from median) in level of social isolation. Life events such as a friend dying were also associated with increased odds of loneliness.

Discussion: These results suggest that average level of isolation and increases in the level of isolation are closely tied to loneliness, which has implications for future assessment or monitoring of loneliness in older adult populations.

Keywords: Cardiovascular Health Study; loneliness; longitudinal methods; social isolation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example data from one participant showing the social network score for each time point, the calculated median social network score (per participant), and the calculated deviation from the median social network score (calculated for each year).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Graph of the average annual transition probability (p) between states of loneliness. Note. The variable, n0, represents the number of people in each category at baseline, while n̅ represents the average number of people transitioning between each category across years.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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