The Long Shadow: Early-Life Adversity and Later-Life Loneliness in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

This study assesses how early-life adversity (ELA) is associated with later-life loneliness among those aged 55 and older in the United States. We consider multiple domains of ELA to understand domain-specific associations between ELA and later-life loneliness.

Methods

Using data from the 2008 to 2016 rounds of Health and Retirement Study (n = 29,661 person-waves [weighted]), we evaluate whether and how different domains of ELA are associated with loneliness, and how their relationships are explained through adulthood conditions and are dependent on educational attainment.

Results

Our analyses demonstrate significant and distinctive relationships between various domains of ELA and later-life loneliness. Whereas adulthood conditions largely explain positive

SUBMITTER: Furuya S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10215977 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature