Department of Developmental, Personality and Forensic Psychology.
Psychoinformatics Lab, Institute of Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg.
Health Psychol. 2018 Sep;37(9):808-813. doi: 10.1037/hea0000605.
Although loneliness and social isolation are distinct constructs, only few studies have examined the putative synergistic effects of loneliness and social isolation on health. The current study strives to fill this gap. We ask, "Do loneliness, social isolation, and their interaction predict mortality?"
We used a large nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older adults in Germany (N = 4,838) with a follow-up period of up to 20 years.
We found that the effects of loneliness and social isolation synergistically interact with each other: The higher the social isolation, the larger the effect of loneliness on mortality, and the higher the loneliness, the larger the effect of social isolation.
Both constructs are important in predicting health. Researchers and practitioners should consider loneliness, social isolation, and their interaction whenever possible. (PsycINFO Database Record
尽管孤独和社会隔离是两个不同的概念，但很少有研究探讨孤独和社会隔离对健康的潜在协同作用。本研究旨在填补这一空白。我们要问：“孤独、社会隔离及其相互作用是否能预测死亡率？”
我们使用了德国一个具有代表性的中年和老年人的大型样本（N=4838），随访时间长达 20 年。
我们发现，孤独和社会隔离的影响具有协同作用：社会隔离程度越高，孤独对死亡率的影响就越大，孤独程度越高，社会隔离对死亡率的影响就越大。
这两个概念在预测健康方面都很重要。研究人员和从业者应尽可能考虑孤独、社会隔离及其相互作用。
