- NEW YORK — Middle-aged
Americans demonstrated some of the highest levels of loneliness in a new study
released on Tuesday, which assessed tens of thousands of 50 to 90-year-olds
across 29 countries.
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- The peer-reviewed research, published in Aging and Mental
Health, shows loneliness generally increases with age -- with only the US and
the Netherlands representing places where middle-aged people feel more lonely
than older generations.
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- “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,” said lead author Robin Richardson, a
social and psychiatric epidemiologist and assistant professor at Emory
University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
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- Advocacy and interventions to address the loneliness
epidemic have historically focused on older adults and adolescents. Middle-aged
adults represent a critical population that is being overlooked, he mentioned.
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- Loneliness is a significant public health concern,
responsible for a wide range of physiological, cognitive, mental and
behavioural health outcomes that decrease quality of life and increase the risk
of disease.
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- Using data from 64,324 older adults in countries across
Europe, North America, and the Middle East, Richardson collaborated with
experts from Columbia University; McGill University in Canada; and Universidad
Mayor in Santiago, Chile.
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- The team found that while loneliness generally increased
with age, the size of the increase was greater in some countries than others.
Adults in Bulgaria and Latvia reported the most substantial increase in
loneliness as people age. They found that adults in Cyprus and Greece had the
highest prevalence of loneliness among adults aged 50–90 years.
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