Compernolle Ellen, Finch Laura E, Hawkley Louise C, Cagney Kathleen A
Soc Sci Med. 2024 Jun;350:116743. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116743. Epub 2024 Mar 23.
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 such 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 = 12,744 EMAs) assessed loneliness, social context (e.g., alone, with a spouse/partner), and location/physical context (e.g., home, at work). Results revealed that men consistently reported greater loneliness intensity than women, including after adjusting for momentary physical and social context. In addition, those 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，女性和黑人成年人可能分别比男性和白人成年人面临更大的风险。社会和身体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不同地体验社会和身体环境，以及这些差异在多大程度上可以通过对这些环境的不同暴露或反应来解释，人们知之甚少。我们研究了：（1）瞬间孤独感如何与（a）性别和种族/族裔以及（b）社会和身体环境相关；以及性别和种族/族裔群体在多大程度上可能（2）不同程度地暴露于与孤独感相关的环境中和/或（3）对这些环境有不同的反应。我们使用多层次回归分析了来自美国芝加哥健康与实时活动空间研究中342名社区居住的老年人的生态瞬间评估数据。在三轮数据收集的每一轮中，智能手机“ping”（每天5次，持续21天；n = 12,744次生态瞬间评估）评估孤独感、社会环境（例如，独自一人、与配偶/伴侣在一起）以及位置/身体环境（例如，在家、在工作）。结果显示，包括在调整了瞬间身体和社会环境之后，男性始终比女性报告更高的孤独强度。此外，那些瞬间不在家且/或不是独自一人的人比其他人更不容易感到孤独。然而，不在家（与在家相比）的保护作用在女性以及黑人和西班牙裔老年人中较弱，而与一个或多个其他人在一起（与独自一人相比）的保护作用在女性中较弱。这些结果首次确定了对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/族裔而有所不同。关于孤独感瞬间变化的知识可能为未来针对老年人的即时适应性孤独干预提供信息。
