Loneliness and depressive symptoms among older adults: The moderating role of subjective life expectancy

Ehud Bodner; Yoav S. Bergman

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.074

Loneliness and depressive symptoms among older adults: The moderating role of subjective life expectancy

Ehud Bodner, Yoav S. Bergman

Ariel University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

Loneliness and depressive symptoms are closely related, and both are indicators of reduced physical and mental well-being in old age. In recent years, the subjective perception of how long an individual expects to live (subjective life expectancy) has gained importance as a significant predictor of future psychological functioning, as well as of physical health. The current study examined whether subjective life expectancy moderates the connection between loneliness and depressive symptoms in a representative sample of older adults. Data was collected from the Israeli component of the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel). Participants (n=2210; mean age=70.35) completed measures of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and life expectancy target age. A hierarchical regression analysis predicting depressive symptoms yielded a significant interaction of loneliness and subjective life expectancy. Further analyses demonstrated that low subjective life expectancy mitigated the loneliness-depressive symptoms connection. Findings are discussed in light of the potential burden of higher subjective life expectancy for lonesome older adults, and practical implications are suggested.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	78-82
Number of pages	5
Journal	Psychiatry Research
Volume	237
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.074
State	Published - 30 Mar 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Funding

This paper uses data from SHARE wave 5 release 1.0.0, as of March 31st 2015 (DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w5.100) or SHARE wave 4 release 1.1.1, as of March 28th 2013 (DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w4.111) or SHARE waves 1 and 2 release 2.6.0, as of November 29th 2013 (DOIs: 10.6103/SHARE.w1.260 and 10.6103/SHARE.w2.260) or SHARELIFE release 1.0.0, as of November 24th 2010 (DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w3.100). The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th Framework Program (project QLK6-CT- 2001-00360 in the thematic program Quality of Life), through the 6th Framework Program (projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE, CIT5- CT-2005-028857, and SHARELIFE, CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and through the 7th Framework Program (SHARE-PREP, N° 211909, SHARE-LEAP, N° 227822 and SHARE M4, N° 261982). Additional funding from the U.S. National Institute on Aging ( U01 AG09740-13S2 , P01 AG005842 , P01 AG08291 , P30 AG12815 , R21 AG025169 , Y1-AG-4553-01 , IAG BSR06-11 and OGHA 04-064 ) and the German Ministry of Education and Research as well as from various national sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org for a full list of funding institutions).

Funders	Funder number
National Institute on Aging	R21 AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG BSR06-11, P01 AG005842, P30 AG12815, OGHA 04-064, U01 AG09740-13S2, P01AG008291
Seventh Framework Programme	261982, 211909, 227822
Sixth Framework Programme	CIT5- CT-2005-028857, CIT4-CT-2006-028812, RII-CT-2006-062193
Fifth Framework Programme	QLK6-CT- 2001-00360
European Commission
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

Keywords

Elderly
Perceived social isolation
Psychological distress
SHARE-Israel
Subjective distance to death

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.074

Cite this

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title = "Loneliness and depressive symptoms among older adults: The moderating role of subjective life expectancy",

abstract = "Loneliness and depressive symptoms are closely related, and both are indicators of reduced physical and mental well-being in old age. In recent years, the subjective perception of how long an individual expects to live (subjective life expectancy) has gained importance as a significant predictor of future psychological functioning, as well as of physical health. The current study examined whether subjective life expectancy moderates the connection between loneliness and depressive symptoms in a representative sample of older adults. Data was collected from the Israeli component of the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel). Participants (n=2210; mean age=70.35) completed measures of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and life expectancy target age. A hierarchical regression analysis predicting depressive symptoms yielded a significant interaction of loneliness and subjective life expectancy. Further analyses demonstrated that low subjective life expectancy mitigated the loneliness-depressive symptoms connection. Findings are discussed in light of the potential burden of higher subjective life expectancy for lonesome older adults, and practical implications are suggested.",

keywords = "Elderly, Perceived social isolation, Psychological distress, SHARE-Israel, Subjective distance to death",

author = "Ehud Bodner and Bergman, \{Yoav S.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.",

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month = mar,

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doi = "10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.074",

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T2 - The moderating role of subjective life expectancy

AU - Bodner, Ehud

AU - Bergman, Yoav S.

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N2 - Loneliness and depressive symptoms are closely related, and both are indicators of reduced physical and mental well-being in old age. In recent years, the subjective perception of how long an individual expects to live (subjective life expectancy) has gained importance as a significant predictor of future psychological functioning, as well as of physical health. The current study examined whether subjective life expectancy moderates the connection between loneliness and depressive symptoms in a representative sample of older adults. Data was collected from the Israeli component of the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel). Participants (n=2210; mean age=70.35) completed measures of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and life expectancy target age. A hierarchical regression analysis predicting depressive symptoms yielded a significant interaction of loneliness and subjective life expectancy. Further analyses demonstrated that low subjective life expectancy mitigated the loneliness-depressive symptoms connection. Findings are discussed in light of the potential burden of higher subjective life expectancy for lonesome older adults, and practical implications are suggested.

AB - Loneliness and depressive symptoms are closely related, and both are indicators of reduced physical and mental well-being in old age. In recent years, the subjective perception of how long an individual expects to live (subjective life expectancy) has gained importance as a significant predictor of future psychological functioning, as well as of physical health. The current study examined whether subjective life expectancy moderates the connection between loneliness and depressive symptoms in a representative sample of older adults. Data was collected from the Israeli component of the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel). Participants (n=2210; mean age=70.35) completed measures of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and life expectancy target age. A hierarchical regression analysis predicting depressive symptoms yielded a significant interaction of loneliness and subjective life expectancy. Further analyses demonstrated that low subjective life expectancy mitigated the loneliness-depressive symptoms connection. Findings are discussed in light of the potential burden of higher subjective life expectancy for lonesome older adults, and practical implications are suggested.

KW - Elderly

KW - Perceived social isolation

KW - Psychological distress

KW - SHARE-Israel

KW - Subjective distance to death

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JO - Psychiatry Research

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ER -

Loneliness and depressive symptoms among older adults: The moderating role of subjective life expectancy

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this