Loneliness in Mid and Later life
Dan Perlman

• Only the Lonely, Roy Orbison
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjq4wYuw gxs

Today’s Talk
• Introduction: Definition, Importance
• Peplau & Perlman Model
• Loneliness in Mid and Later Life
– Demographic Correlates
– Life Events & Transitions
– Social Correlates
– Health and Mortality

D
Loneliness is the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person’s network of social relations is deficient in some important way, either quantitatively or qualitatively.

S ocial P roblems A ssociated W ith
L oneliness
• Alcoholism
• Suicide
• Poor Immune functioning, overuse of health care facilities
• Sleep disorders
• Poor psychological adjustment
• Poor grades
• Aggression
• Delinquency
• Running away from home
• Breakdown of society

Anne Peplau
• Other collaborators
– Linda Carroll
– James Check
– Ann Gerson
– Judith Goldberg
– Judy Lobdell
– Neil Malamuth
– Dan Russell
– Kathryn Saulnier

Peplau and Perlman Discrepancy
Model
• C:\Documents and Settings\D_PERLMA\My Documents\Doc\RESEARCH\geront\LONE_FIG.DOC

The Role of Genetics
• Dutch twins (N=8387) and siblings (N=2295) study
• The heritability estimate for loneliness was
40% and did not differ between males and females.
• Boomsma, D. I., Cacioppo, J. T., Slagboom, P. E., & Posthuma, D. (2006). Genetic Linkage and
Association Analysis for Loneliness in Dutch Twin and Sibling Pairs Points to a Region on
Chromosome 12q23-24. Behavior Genetics, 36, 137-146. doi: 10.1007/s10519-005-9005-z

Social Control
(Schulz, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1976)
• Study of college students visiting seniors over a 2-month period
• Included a no-visit condition, a condition where the student decided on the visits, and a condition where the senior decided on the visits
• Loneliness declined in the condition where the senior controlled visits but not in the other two conditions

AARP Study http://www.aarp.org/personal-growth/transitions/info-09-
2010/loneliness_2010.html
• Many of today’s slides are based on a 2010
ARRP Survey
• The study sought a nationally representative sample of adults
45 + years old
• 3012 individuals participated
• Measure: UCLA Scale

DEMOGRAPHIC CORRELATES OF
LONELINESS

AARP Survey: Loneliness as a
Function of Age

Loneliness Across the Lifespan:
Adolescent High Point

Gender Differences:
Mixed Results
AARP Study Meta-Analysis
• Results Measure Specific
• Women higher in selflabeling
• Women higher on UCLA
• No Difference on Dutch
Measure

Loneliness by Income

LONELINESS BY MID AND LATER
LIFE EVENTS AND TRANSITIONS

• Departure of children
• Divorce

Retirement
Retirement
Contact with Coworkers After
Retiring

• Loneliness: A key aspect of bereavement
• What widows lose (Lopata)
• Correlates of loneliness in widowhood:
• Unexpected death
• Rumination about negative consequences of death
• Negative view of spouse

SOCIAL CORRELATES OF
LONELINESS

Loneliness by Marital Status

Loneliness by Length of Current
Marriage

Loneliness by Duration of Divorce

Loneliness by Time Spent on
Hobbies per Week

Community Involvement and
Loneliness
Volunteer Work Participate Community Org’s

Loneliness and Contact with
Friends per Month
In Person (~ Phone) Email

Loneliness and Contact with
Children per Month
In Person Phone

Loneliness and Perceived Social Support:
How many people have been very supportive of you in the last year?

Loneliness by Length of Current
Residence

Loneliness by Length of Current
Residence

HEALTH CORRELATES OF
LONELINESS

Loneliness and Self-Reported
Health

Loneliness and Nursing Homes
(Russell et al., Psychology and Aging, 1997)
• 4-year prospective study: Higher levels of loneliness were found to increase the likelihood of nursing home admission

Prospective
Longitudinal
Study
Perissinotto et al., 2012.
Archives of Internal Medicine
Community sample, nationally representative, followed 2002 -2008,
N = 1604,
Age = 60+
Decline in ADL
Difficulties with
Upper
Extremity Tasks
Decline in
Mobility
Trouble with
Stairs
Death
Lonely
24.8
41.5
38.1
40.8
22.8
Not Lonely
12.5
28.3
29.4
27.9
14.2

Loneliness and Mortality
• Perissinotto, C, Stijacic Cenzer, I, Covinsky, KE. Loneliness in older persons: A predictor of functional decline and death.
Archives of Internal Medicine 2012; 172(14): 1078-1084. PMID: 22710744
• Penninx , B.W.J.H. , van Tilburg , T.G., Kriegsman , D.M.W. , Deeg , D.J.H. , Boeke , A.J.P. & van Eijk , J.T.M. (1997). Effects of social support and personal coping resources on mortality in older age: The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. American
Journal of Epidemiology 146 (6), 510-519.
• Beekman, A. T. F.; Deeg, D. J. H.; Stek, M. L.; van Tilburg, T. G. (2012). Increased risk of mortality associated with social isolation in older men: only when feeling lonely? Results from the Amsterdam Study of the Elderly (AMSTEL). Psychological
Medicine, 42(4):843-853
• Tilvis, R. S.; Routasalo, P.; Karppinen, H.; et al. (2012). e: Social isolation, social activity and loneliness as survival indicators in old age; a nationwide survey with a 7-year follow-up . European Geriatric Medicine, 3(1), 18-22 DOI:
10.1016/j.eurger.2011.08.004
• Shiovitz-Ezra, S., & Ayalon, L. (2010). Situational versus chronic loneliness as risk factors for all-cause mortality . International
Psychogeriatrics, 22(3), 455-462 DOI: 10.1017/S1041610209991426
• Luo, Y., Hawkley, L. C., Waite, L. J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2012). Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: A national longitudinal study. Social Science & Medicine, 74(6), 907-914. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.11.028
• Sugisawa H, Liang J, & Liu X. (1994). Social networks, social support, and mortality among older people in Japan. Journal of
Gerontology, 49, S3–13.

Question
• From a lifespan, developmental perspective, how can we prevent or help alleviate loneliness?