Loneliness as a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Abstract

The extent to which loneliness is a unique risk factor for depressive symptoms was determined in 2 population-based studies of middle-aged to older adults, and the possible causal influences between loneliness and depressive symptoms were examined longitudinally in the 2nd study. In Study 1, a nationally representative sample of persons aged 54 and older completed a telephone interview as part of a study of health and aging. Higher levels of loneliness were associated with more depressive symptoms, net of the effects of age, gender, ethnicity, education, income, marital status, social support, and perceived stress. In Study 2, detailed measures of loneliness, social support, perceived stress, hostility, and demographic characteristics were collected over a 3-year period from a population-based sample of adults ages 50-67 years from Cook County, Illinois. Loneliness was again associated with more depressive symptoms, net of demographic covariates, marital status, social support, hostility, and perceived stress. Latent variable growth models revealed reciprocal influences over time between loneliness and depressive symptomatology. These data suggest that loneliness and depressive symptomatology can act in a synergistic effect to diminish well-being in middle-aged and older adults.

Social functioning in patients with depressive and anxiety disorders

“…Evidence suggests that residual psychosocial impairment increases the recurrence of depressive and anxious symptomatology 41, 45, and the affective components are suggested to drive this effect. Several studies have for instance shown that loneliness is predictive of both depressive symptomatology within geriatric populations 8, 46, 47 and social phobia 48. Yet, in our analyses, loneliness was not predictive of future psychopathology, with perceived social disability emerging as the sole significant predictor of anxiety and/or depressive disorders 2 years after the initial screening.…”

“…Behavioural indicators represent objective and quantitative measures of social function 5, including social network size, frequency of social activities, and frequency of perceived social support. Affective indicators, on the other hand, reflect more subjective and evaluative measures of interpersonal and socio‐emotional functioning 8 and include features such as loneliness, affiliation, and perceived social disability,…”

“…Santini et al 6 showed that perceived support (affective indicator) was more important for social functioning in depression than received support (behavioural indicator), and increased levels of perceived support played a protective role in depression onset. In addition, Cacioppo et al 8 indicated that loneliness increases the risk for depression. Generally, when compared to healthy controls, patients with anxiety disorders have a lower quality of life especially in the areas of social interactions and subjective wellbeing 9.…”

Widening the social context of disablement among married older adults: Considering the role of nonmarital relationships for loneliness

“…This pattern runs counter to prior studies that have documented, particularly with respect to marital relationships, that negative appraisals and indications of strain are more important for overall well-being (Carr and Springer, 2010;Marks, 1998), especially for women (Kiecolt-Glaser and Newton, 2001), and can exacerbate the detrimental socioemotional effects of disablement (Bookwala and Franks, 2005). As many of these prior studies have examined depression, the weaker effects of negative relationship appraisals may be indicative of the fact that loneliness and depressive symptoms are fundamentally different mental health indicators (Cacioppo et al, 2006). However, we also recognize that these differences may reflect the limits of our indicators of negative interpersonal relationship qualities.…”

“…While a risk factor for depression (Cacioppo et al, 2006), loneliness reflects an underlying social process and thus there are limits to what we can determine from studies of depression. Nevertheless, we would expect non-spousal social support and strain to mediate the association between functional limitations given that, as opposed to marriage, relationships with family and friends are unlikely to be coresidential and, especially among friends, to lack the institutional basis for sustained interaction and support in the face of a stressor such as disablement.…”