Janssen Jeroen H M, van Tilburg Theo G, van Ingen Erik J, Corten Rense, Peeters Geeske, Olde Rikkert Marcel G M
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, Tilburg, 5000 LE, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 12;15(1):25230. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-09861-8.
Social internet use might decrease loneliness, potentially by increasing social contact. Vice versa, loneliness might decrease social internet use by decreased social contact. However, few studies explored these associations longitudinally. This study aimed to assess the longitudinal, bidirectional associations between frequency of social internet use, loneliness, and social contact (measured as the number of frequently contacted personal network members). We used four waves of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (2011-13, 2015-16, 2018-19, 2021-22) in a sample of 1923 Dutch older adults (age 55-98). We applied random intercept cross-lagged panel models to test the bidirectional and mediational relationships. We found a longitudinal association between social internet use and subsequent loneliness, β = -0.07, p = .008, but no evidence of mediation of social contact, nor of a reversed association. These results strengthen existing evidence for a positive association of social internet use in decreasing loneliness. In contrast, more loneliness did not predict a difference in social internet use, suggesting that this reversed relationship is more complex or dependent on individual characteristics.
使用社交网络可能会减少孤独感，这可能是通过增加社交接触来实现的。反之，孤独感可能会因社交接触减少而降低社交网络的使用频率。然而，很少有研究从纵向角度探讨这些关联。本研究旨在评估社交网络使用频率、孤独感和社交接触（以经常联系的个人网络成员数量衡量）之间的纵向双向关联。我们使用了阿姆斯特丹纵向老龄化研究的四个阶段（2011 - 13年、2015 - 16年、2018 - 19年、2021 - 22年），样本为1923名荷兰老年人（年龄在55 - 98岁之间）。我们应用随机截距交叉滞后面板模型来检验双向关系和中介关系。我们发现社交网络使用与随后的孤独感之间存在纵向关联，β = -0.07，p = 0.008，但没有证据表明社交接触起到中介作用，也没有反向关联的证据。这些结果强化了社交网络使用在减少孤独感方面存在正相关的现有证据。相比之下，孤独感增加并未预测社交网络使用的差异，这表明这种反向关系更为复杂或取决于个体特征。
