Switsers Lise, Dierckx Eva, Domènech-Abella Joan, De Donder Liesbeth, Dury Sarah
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2021 Dec;33(12):1265-1276. doi: 10.1017/S1041610220004196. Epub 2021 Feb 17.
Although older adults often experience negative life events or loss experiences, they rarely experience large decreases in their quality of life or well-being. Emotionally satisfying relationships in older adults may serve as a protective factor that reduces the impact of negative events in decreasing well-being. The availability of these close social contacts is essential, and their potential for alleviating feelings of loneliness after negative events could have an important role in promoting well-being. The aim of this study was to test the hypothetical moderation and mediation effects of social and emotional loneliness on the occurrence of negative old-age life events and well-being in later life.
This was a cross-sectional survey conducted as part of the Detection, Support and Care for older people - Prevention and Empowerment research project (2015-2018).
Participants were community-dwelling older adults in Flanders (Belgium).
The sample composed of 770 participants aged 60 years and over.
Participant demographics, social and emotional loneliness, and subjective well-being were measured. Moderation and mediation analyses were performed using the regression-based approach as conducted by Hayes and Rockwood (2017).
Results indicated that a low degree of (social) loneliness is a protective, moderating factor and (emotional) loneliness is a mediating factor on the effects of negative life events on well-being in later life.
Findings highlight the importance of emotionally and socially satisfying social contacts in order to maintain positive subjective well-being in later life when negative life events may occur.
尽管老年人经常经历负面生活事件或丧失经历，但他们的生活质量或幸福感很少大幅下降。老年人情感上令人满足的人际关系可能作为一种保护因素，减少负面事件对幸福感下降的影响。这些亲密社会关系的存在至关重要，而且它们在负面事件后减轻孤独感的潜力可能在促进幸福感方面发挥重要作用。本研究的目的是检验社会孤独和情感孤独对晚年负面老年生活事件的发生以及幸福感的假设调节和中介作用。
这是一项横断面调查，作为老年人检测、支持与护理——预防与赋权研究项目（2015 - 2018年）的一部分进行。
参与者是比利时弗拉芒地区的社区居住老年人。
样本由770名60岁及以上的参与者组成。
对参与者的人口统计学特征、社会孤独和情感孤独以及主观幸福感进行了测量。使用海斯和罗克伍德（2017年）采用的基于回归的方法进行调节和中介分析。
结果表明，低度（社会）孤独是一个保护性调节因素，（情感）孤独是负面生活事件对晚年幸福感影响的中介因素。
研究结果强调了情感和社会上令人满足的社会关系对于在可能发生负面生活事件的晚年维持积极主观幸福感的重要性。
