TY - JOUR
T1 - Posttraumatic stress disorder and loneliness are associated over time: A longitudinal study on PTSD symptoms and loneliness, among older adults
T2 - A longitudinal study on PTSD symptoms and loneliness, among older adults
AU - Fox, Robert
AU - McHugh Power, Joanna
AU - Coogan, Andrew N.
AU - Beekman, Aartjan T. F.
AU - van Tilburg, Theo G.
AU - Hyland, Philip
N1 - Funding Information: The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam is supported by a grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Directorate of Long-Term Care. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - Loneliness has a pernicious effect on mental health in later life and is likely to have a bidirectional relationship with psychopathology. However, longitudinal research examining loneliness and posttraumatic stress symptoms among older adults is scarce. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationship between different types of loneliness (social and emotional) and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Using two waves of an older adult sample (n = 1,276) from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), this longitudinal relationship was examined using a multivariate two wave-latent change score (2W-LCS) model. There were significant, however, very small increases in both posttraumatic stress symptoms and emotional loneliness over time, whereas, average social loneliness scores did not significantly increase/decrease over time. Changes in both social (β = .16) and emotional loneliness (β = .15) were associated with small changes in posttraumatic stress symptoms, consistent with the existence of a longitudinal association between the constructs, net of covariate effects. Results provide evidence of the existence of a longitudinal association between subtypes of loneliness and posttraumatic stress symptoms, among older adults. Results have implications for clinicians who should identify individuals at risk of developing posttraumatic stress symptoms, and for the theory of both posttraumatic stress disorder and loneliness.
AB - Loneliness has a pernicious effect on mental health in later life and is likely to have a bidirectional relationship with psychopathology. However, longitudinal research examining loneliness and posttraumatic stress symptoms among older adults is scarce. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationship between different types of loneliness (social and emotional) and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Using two waves of an older adult sample (n = 1,276) from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), this longitudinal relationship was examined using a multivariate two wave-latent change score (2W-LCS) model. There were significant, however, very small increases in both posttraumatic stress symptoms and emotional loneliness over time, whereas, average social loneliness scores did not significantly increase/decrease over time. Changes in both social (β = .16) and emotional loneliness (β = .15) were associated with small changes in posttraumatic stress symptoms, consistent with the existence of a longitudinal association between the constructs, net of covariate effects. Results provide evidence of the existence of a longitudinal association between subtypes of loneliness and posttraumatic stress symptoms, among older adults. Results have implications for clinicians who should identify individuals at risk of developing posttraumatic stress symptoms, and for the theory of both posttraumatic stress disorder and loneliness.
KW - Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
KW - emotional loneliness
KW - loneliness
KW - mental health
KW - social loneliness
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85102035844&origin=inward
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102035844&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113846
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113846
M3 - Article
C2 - 33706195
SN - 0165-1781
VL - 299
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
IS - May
M1 - 113846
ER -