United States: The field of aging experts views senior loneliness as a major issue because physical separation causes dementia risk alongside various health problems, psychiatric illnesses, and death.
More about the news
The results of a recent study demonstrate that Americans have been worrying unnecessarily about senior loneliness in this country.
According to research published in Aging and Mental Health, middle-aged Americans feel more socially isolated than older adults in the United States.
The Netherlands joins the US as the only two nations where middle-aged people face more loneliness than elderly adults based on the study analysis that spanned 64,000 participants across 29 countries.
What are the experts stating?
According to the lead researcher, Robin Richardson, a social and psychiatric epidemiologist and assistant professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, “There is a general perception that people get lonelier as they age, but the opposite is actually true in the US where middle-aged people are lonelier than older generations,” US News reported.
“Advocacy and interventions to address the loneliness epidemic have historically focused on older adults and adolescents,” she noted.
“Middle-aged adults represent a critical population that is being overlooked,” she continued.
The researchers analyzed survey results from Europe combined with the Middle East and North America using a three-question loneliness evaluation from UCLA.
Loneliness Epidemic Hits Middle-Aged
Research findings demonstrated that Eastern European nations Bulgaria and Latvia experienced the most significant elevation of loneliness among adult citizens as individuals aged.
Research-based on data collection found Cypriot and Greek adults aged 50 to 90 to contain the highest number of lonely people.
Research data indicates that American individuals between the ages of 50 and 60 commonly reported feelings of loneliness more frequently than other age groups, US News reported.
Researchers found that being unemployed and not married, along with poor health and depression, stood as the main factors causing age-related differences in loneliness worldwide.
US middle-aged adults experienced the highest levels of loneliness because they did not work, according to research findings.