Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing®), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
Psychogeriatrics. 2024 Nov;24(6):1313-1323. doi: 10.1111/psyg.13196. Epub 2024 Sep 17.
The status of being unmarried is commonly associated with a higher tendency for loneliness and cognitive impairment. However, it has yet to be determined whether there is a link between loneliness and cognitive function among unmarried older people. Therefore, this study used longitudinal data to determine the link between loneliness and cognitive function, and the subjects were unmarried community-dwelling older adults.
The study follows up a sample of 733 unmarried older adults who were either never married, widowed, divorced or separated, from waves one and two of the 'Neuroprotective Model for Healthy Longevity among Malaysian Older Adults' study. The main statistical analysis used to answer the research question was the PROCESS macro (model 1) for SPSS.
The study found that increased loneliness was associated with a decline in cognitive function over a 3-year period. Additionally, gender moderated the link between loneliness and cognitive function, with this association being particularly prominent in older men.
Loneliness among unmarried older people should be given attention as it could lead to deteriorating cognitive function. Notably, older men experience a more substantial impact of loneliness on cognitive function than women. Therefore, special attention should be focused on this population, and more social services should be developed to reduce the incidence of cognitive impairment, improve their quality of life, and promote successful ageing.
未婚状态通常与更高的孤独感和认知障碍倾向相关。然而，尚未确定孤独感与未婚老年人的认知功能之间是否存在关联。因此，本研究使用纵向数据来确定孤独感与认知功能之间的联系，研究对象为未婚的社区居住老年人。
本研究跟踪了“马来西亚老年人健康长寿神经保护模型”研究中第一和第二波的 733 名从未婚、丧偶、离婚或分居的未婚老年人样本。为回答研究问题，主要使用了 SPSS 中的 PROCESS 宏（模型 1）进行统计分析。
研究发现，孤独感的增加与 3 年内认知功能下降有关。此外，性别调节了孤独感与认知功能之间的联系，这种关联在老年男性中尤为明显。
应该关注未婚老年人的孤独感问题，因为它可能导致认知功能恶化。值得注意的是，孤独感对男性认知功能的影响比女性更大。因此，应特别关注这一人群，并开发更多的社会服务，以降低认知障碍的发生率，提高他们的生活质量，并促进成功老龄化。
