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. 2020 Oct;32(9):1156-1164.
doi: 10.1177/0898264319894486. Epub 2019 Dec 21.

Reciprocal Effects Between Loneliness and Sleep Disturbance in Older Americans

Sarah C Griffin  1 , Allison Baylor Williams  1 , Samantha N Mladen  1 , Paul B Perrin  1 , Joseph M Dzierzewski  1 , Bruce D Rybarczyk  1
Affiliations

Reciprocal Effects Between Loneliness and Sleep Disturbance in Older Americans

Sarah C Griffin et al. J Aging Health. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: To model the relationship between loneliness and sleep disturbance over time. Method: Data came from the Health and Retirement Study (2006, 2010, 2014 waves; age ≥ 65 years; n = 5,067). Loneliness was measured via the Hughes Loneliness Scale and sleep disturbance via a four-item scale assessing sleep and restedness. Cross-lagged panel modeling (path analysis) was used to jointly examine reciprocal effects between loneliness and sleep disturbance. Results: Higher loneliness correlated with higher sleep disturbance at baseline. There was evidence of reciprocal effects between loneliness and sleep across timepoints. These associations overall remained when accounting for demographics, objective isolation, and depression. Discussion: Although causality cannot be established, the findings indicate that the relationship between loneliness and sleep disturbance is bidirectional. This requires revision to the current theory on sleep disturbance as a mechanism for the relationship between loneliness and health and indicates that effective treatment of sleep disturbance may reduce loneliness.

Keywords: health; insomnia; loneliness; older adults; sleep.

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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.
Bivariate (unadjusted) cross-lagged panel model (2006, 2010, 2014), with standardized regression weights. All paths are significant (p < .001).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Adjusted cross-lagged panel model (2006, 2010, 2014), with standardized regression weights for paths of interest. All paths are significant (p < .001) with the exception of the path from 2006 sleep disturbance to 2010 loneliness.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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