Seniors

Study Finds - Loneliness can affect anyone at any age, but a new study finds it typically gets worse as people grow older. Researchers from Northwestern University have discovered an unfortunate pattern of loneliness during adulthood. Mapping out trends across the average person’s lifespan, researchers found that feelings of loneliness are very common during young adulthood before dropping off during middle age. However, loneliness ramped back up to high levels during old age.

The research, published in the journal Psychological Science, analyzed data from nine long-term studies conducted in countries across the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. In total, the study authors examined the lives of over 25,000 adults to reveal these fascinating insights about loneliness across a person’s entire life. “What was striking was how consistent the uptick in loneliness is in older adulthood,” says lead author Eileen Graham, a professor at Northwestern University, in a media release. “There’s a wealth of evidence that loneliness is related to poorer health, so we wanted to better understand who is lonely and why people are becoming lonelier as they age out of midlife so we can hopefully start finding ways to mitigate it.”

The researchers found a clear U-shaped pattern, with loneliness at its highest in younger adulthood right after the tumultuous transition from adolescence. It then drops to its lowest levels during our 30s, 40s, and 50s in that prime period of middle age. Once we hit our 60s, however, loneliness starts creeping upward again until it peaks in our elderly years.