NORC at the University of Chicago, 1155 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Sep;285:114307. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114307. Epub 2021 Aug 6.
Studies suggest that loneliness is associated with age. Among older adults, women and Black adults may be at greater risk than men and White adults, respectively. Social and physical contexts are also linked with loneliness. However, little is known about whether and how those of different genders and racial/ethnic groups may experience social and physical contexts differently in terms of their real-time loneliness, and the extent to which these differences may be explained by differential exposure or reactivity to contexts.
We examine (1) how momentary loneliness relates to (a) gender and race/ethnicity and (b) social and physical context; and the extent to which gender and racial/ethnic groups may be (2) differentially exposed to loneliness-related contexts and/or (3) differentially reacting to these contexts.
Using multilevel regressions, we analyzed ecological momentary assessments from 342 community-dwelling U.S. older adults from the Chicago Health and Activity Space in Real Time study. In each of three waves of data collection, smartphone "pings" (five per day for 21 days; n = 12,793 EMAs) assessed loneliness, social context (e.g., alone, with a spouse/partner), and location/physical context (e.g., home, at work).
Men consistently reported greater loneliness intensity than women, including after adjusting for momentary physical and social context. Older adults momentarily outside the home and/or not alone were less likely to feel lonely than their counterparts. However, the protective effect of being outside of the home (vs. home) was weaker among women and Black and Hispanic older adults, and the protective effect of being with one or more others (vs. alone) was weaker among women.
Results are among the first to identify contextual effects on real-time loneliness in older adults and how these associations vary by gender and race/ethnicity. Knowledge regarding momentary variation in loneliness may inform future just-in-time adaptive loneliness interventions in older adulthood.
研究表明，孤独感与年龄有关。在老年人中，女性和黑人成年人比男性和白人成年人分别面临更大的风险。社会和物理环境也与孤独感有关。然而，对于不同性别和种族/族裔群体在实时孤独感方面是否以及如何以不同的方式体验社会和物理环境，以及这些差异在多大程度上可以通过对环境的不同暴露或反应来解释，知之甚少。
我们考察了（1）瞬间孤独感与（a）性别和种族/族裔以及（b）社会和物理环境的关系；以及性别和种族/族裔群体在多大程度上（2）更容易受到与孤独感相关的环境影响，或（3）对这些环境有不同的反应。
我们使用多层次回归分析，分析了来自芝加哥健康与实时活动空间研究的 342 名社区居住的美国老年参与者的生态瞬时评估数据。在数据收集的三个波次中，智能手机“推送”（每天五次，持续 21 天；n=12793 个 EMAs）评估了孤独感、社会环境（如独处、与配偶/伴侣在一起）和位置/物理环境（如在家、在工作中）。
男性报告的孤独感强度始终高于女性，包括在调整了即时的物理和社会环境后。与在家中或独处相比，处于家外或与他人在一起的老年人不太可能感到孤独。然而，在家中（与在家相比）的保护作用在女性和黑人和西班牙裔老年人中较弱，与一人或多人在一起（与独处相比）的保护作用在女性中较弱。
这些结果是首批确定老年人实时孤独感的环境影响以及这些关联如何因性别和种族/族裔而异的研究之一。关于孤独感的瞬时变化的知识可能为未来在老年期实施即时适应孤独感的干预措施提供信息。
