Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
School of Social Work, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States.
Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 1;11:1199577. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1199577. eCollection 2023.
Loneliness is a key indicator of well-being in older adults. Drawing from the ecological model of aging, the active aging perspective, and the convoy model of social relations, this study investigates the extent community engagement influences loneliness and whether the relationship is mediated by social support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data was collected from 1,067 retired older adults in a cross-sectional design in Chengdu, China in 2022. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the direct and indirect effects of community engagement on loneliness through the hypothesized mediator of social support.
The results show community engagement was positively associated with social support (β = 0.26, < 0.001) and social support was negatively related to loneliness (β = -0.41, < 0.001). Social support fully mediated the relationship between community engagement and loneliness. Additionally, community engagement had an indirect effect on loneliness via social support (β = -0.11, < 0.001).
The findings from the moderation analysis suggests community engagement and social support are likely to have large effects on loneliness for older adults over the age of 70 and who have low educational attainment. The findings suggest community engagement could be an important factor for improving social support and reducing loneliness amongst retired, older adults in China, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic where millions of individuals were isolated for extended periods of time.
孤独感是老年人幸福感的一个关键指标。本研究借鉴老龄化的生态模型、积极老龄化视角和社会关系的护航模型，调查了社区参与度对孤独感的影响程度，以及在 COVID-19 大流行期间，这种关系是否通过社会支持来调节。
本研究于 2022 年在中国成都采用横断面设计，共收集了 1067 名退休的老年数据。采用结构方程模型，通过假设的社会支持中介，检验了社区参与对孤独感的直接和间接影响。
结果显示，社区参与与社会支持呈正相关（β=0.26，<0.001），社会支持与孤独感呈负相关（β=-0.41，<0.001）。社会支持完全中介了社区参与与孤独感之间的关系。此外，社区参与通过社会支持对孤独感产生间接影响（β=-0.11，<0.001）。
调节分析的结果表明，对于 70 岁以上且受教育程度较低的老年人来说，社区参与和社会支持很可能对孤独感产生较大影响。研究结果表明，社区参与可能是改善中国退休老年人社会支持和减轻孤独感的一个重要因素，尤其是在 COVID-19 大流行期间，数百万人被隔离了很长时间。
