Loneliness in midlife: Historical increases and elevated levels in the United States compared with Europe.

IF 12.3 1区 心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
American Psychologist Pub Date : 2025-07-01 Epub Date: 2024-03-18 DOI:10.1037/amp0001322
Frank J Infurna, Nutifafa E Y Dey, Tita Gonzalez Avilés, Kevin J Grimm, Margie E Lachman, Denis Gerstorf
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Loneliness is gaining attention globally as a public health issue because elevated loneliness increases one's risk for depression, compromised immunity, chronic illness, and mortality. Our objective is to zoom into how loneliness has historically evolved through midlife and investigate whether elevations in loneliness are confined to the United States or are similarly transpiring across peer European nations. We use harmonized data on loneliness from nationally representative longitudinal panel surveys from the United States and 13 European nations to directly quantify similarities and differences in historical change of midlife loneliness trajectories. Compared with any other European nation/region, overall levels of loneliness in the United States are consistently higher by a magnitude of 0.3-0.8 SDs. Middle-aged adults in the United States, England, and Mediterranean Europe today report higher levels of loneliness than earlier born cohorts, whereas no historical changes (if not historically lower levels) were observed in Continental and Nordic Europe. Our discussion focuses on possible reasons for cross-national differences in midlife loneliness, including cultural factors, social and economic inequalities, and differences in social safety nets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

中年孤独:美国与欧洲相比的历史性增长和高水平。
孤独作为一个公共健康问题正日益受到全球关注,因为孤独感的增加会增加抑郁、免疫力下降、慢性疾病和死亡的风险。我们的目标是深入研究孤独感在历史上是如何演变到中年的,并调查孤独感的升高是否仅限于美国,还是同样发生在欧洲各国。我们利用来自美国和 13 个欧洲国家的具有全国代表性的纵向小组调查的孤独感统一数据,直接量化中年孤独感历史变化轨迹的异同。与其他欧洲国家/地区相比,美国人的总体孤独感水平一直较高,高出0.3-0.8个标准差。如今,美国、英国和地中海欧洲的中年人报告的孤独感水平高于早年出生的人群,而在欧洲大陆和北欧则没有观察到历史性的变化(如果不是历史性的较低水平)。我们的讨论侧重于中年孤独感的跨国差异的可能原因,包括文化因素、社会和经济不平等以及社会安全网的差异。(PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, 版权所有)。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
American Psychologist
American Psychologist PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-
CiteScore
18.50
自引率
1.20%
发文量
145
期刊介绍: Established in 1946, American Psychologist® is the flagship peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the American Psychological Association. It publishes high-impact papers of broad interest, including empirical reports, meta-analyses, and scholarly reviews, covering psychological science, practice, education, and policy. Articles often address issues of national and international significance within the field of psychology and its relationship to society. Published in an accessible style, contributions in American Psychologist are designed to be understood by both psychologists and the general public.
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