Loneliness, bad health, and the moderating role of friends: Differences between younger and older individuals in Germany

Tim Friehe () and Christian Pfeifer ()
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Tim Friehe: Philipps-Universität Marburg
Christian Pfeifer: Leuphana

Economics Bulletin, 2026, vol. 46, issue 1, 342 - 359

Abstract: This study investigates the moderating role of friends on the relationship between poor health and loneliness, distinguishing young and old individuals. Utilizing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we find that loneliness is significantly associated with poor health and negatively related to the number of close friends. While these associations are observed across all age groups, a robust moderating role of friends on the health-loneliness link exists only among older adults. Our results are consistent with the buffering hypothesis and the socioemotional selectivity theory.

Keywords: Loneliness; Health; Social Support; Friends; SOEP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03-30
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