Exploring the influence of loneliness on cognitive decline: differential effects in Black and White older adults

Qing Lin, Mahsa Dadar, Michael Oliver, Lisa L Barnes and Cassandra Morrison

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2025, vol. 80, issue 11, gbaf156.

Abstract: ObjectivesLoneliness is prevalent among older adults, who may experience age-related or pathological cognitive changes. However, there’s a limited understanding of how loneliness affects cognitive decline and if the relationship differs by race. This study investigates the impact of loneliness on cognitive decline among Black and White older adults.Methods3,082 participants with 20,882 follow-ups over 10 years were included from the RUSH RADC cohorts. Participants were categorized as having high or low loneliness based on a median split of de Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale scores. Participants were divided into four groups based on race (White vs. Black) and loneliness status (high vs. low): (1) White-high (n = 1,030), (2) White-low (n = 913), (3) Black-high (n = 493), (4) Black-low (n = 646). Linear mixed-effects models were employed to examine group differences in cognitive change over time (global cognition, episodic memory, semantic memory, perceptual speed, visuospatial ability, and working memory).ResultsWhite adults with high loneliness exhibited increased rates of cognitive decline across all domains (p

Keywords: Race differences; Longitudinal cognitive change; Social isolation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbaf156 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:80:y:2025:i:11:p:gbaf156.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().