Broken Bonds, Lonely Hearts? A Mediation Analysis of Childhood Adversity, Relationship Quality, and Loneliness in Later Life.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

This study examined whether the link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs, including child maltreatment, financial hardship, and household dysfunction) and later-life loneliness was mediated by quality of social relationships.

Methods

Data came from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 11,700). Five path models were tested: four individual relationship types (spouse, children, relatives, and friends) and one combining all relationship types.

Results

In the spouse model, child maltreatment and financial hardship increased loneliness via lower support and higher strain; household dysfunction showed no significant indirect effect. In the children and other relatives models, child maltreatment and financial hardship again showed significant indire

SUBMITTER: Xiang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12967320 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature