Loneliness across life phases

在成年期，大约从18到65年，我们经过了几个生命阶段，每个生命阶段都具有特定的行为和目标，这些行为和目标是该阶段的规范性。例如，在二十多岁或三十多岁的时候，意味着您可能必须拥有积极的，充满活力的社交生活，并为自己的梦想工作做准备。此外，在三十多岁和四十多岁的时候，您可能正在努力平衡自己的职业生涯，孩子的成长以及对衰老父母的照顾。在50岁达到50岁之后，对您的职业生涯的重要性可能会减少，而与亲人在一起的时间将变得更加重要。

总的来说，如果一个人无法满足其年龄规范的行为和目标，他们可能会感知孤独感。

总的来说，如果一个人无法满足其年龄规范的行为和目标，他们可能会感知孤独感。人们可以期望，如果每个生命阶段的行为和目标不同，与孤独相关的因素可能会遵循相同的模式。

为了探索随着年龄的增长，与孤独感有关的因素是否会改变，我们使用了大型区域健康调查的数据，即成人健康监测仪。该调查的参与者被问及他们的孤独感，人口统计学因素，与健康相关的因素的主观感觉。分析了三个群体，年轻人（19-34），早期中年成年人（35-49）和晚期中年成年人（50-65）之间的差异。

研究

In line with what we expected, we found that some of the factors associated with loneliness differ for the various life phases. Firstly, for young adults a stronger association between frequency of contact with friends and lower levels of loneliness was observed, compared to early and late middle-aged adults. This is exactly what was expected as, in your twenties, friends are some of the most important people in your life. Secondly, having a job was associated with lower levels of loneliness only for early middle-aged adults, which links to the career ambitions people might have at this age. For late middle-aged adults, those who were married experienced lower levels of loneliness. Again, we expected to find this, considering that emotional closeness increases with age.

Some factors associated with loneliness were not influenced by age, such as social exclusion and perceiving psychological distress.

In addition, our study has demonstrated that some factors associated with loneliness were not influenced by age, such as social exclusion and perceiving psychological distress. Remarkably, most of these factors are indicators for psychological health. This seems to demonstrate that psychological problems are associated with loneliness, no matter what age you are.

Particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic, psychological health may be threatened. And on top of that, COVID-19 impacts adults differently according to the important factors of their life phase as well. For example, young adults are not able to interact with their friends or classmates face to face anymore. Early middle-aged adults have to work from home, while supervising their children and worrying about their aging parents, whereas for late middle-aged adults visiting their loved ones has become impossible.

So, whatever age you are, the risk of loneliness is always there, lurking in the background. And maybe now more than ever.

The best way to deal with loneliness

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to prevent or combat loneliness

如果与孤独感有关的因素在人们年龄变化时会改变，那么对孤独的影响有何影响？目前，大多数干预措施的影响有限，并且在很大程度上是普遍的，并且专注于所有成年人，而没有在年轻人和晚期成年人之间进行区分。我们的研究结果表明，没有“一定大小”的方法来预防或打击孤独感，但是对于年龄和生活阶段而言，这种方法可能是适当的。