AFRICAN AMERICANS REPORT LESS LONELINESS THAN WHITE ADULTS IN OLD AGE

Abstract

Loneliness increases with age and is associated with a two-fold increase in dementia. While loneliness in older White adults has been studied, little is known about loneliness in older African Americans. Older African Americans may show lower rates of loneliness due to greater interpersonal contact within social networks. Here we tested the hypothesis that African Americans would report lower levels of loneliness than demographically-matched older White participants, and that this race difference would interact with cognitive function. One thousand one hundred and eighty participants without dementia (mean age=74.85, mean education=14.46, male/female=265/915, mean MMSE=27.95) from the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP) and Minority Aging Research Study (MARS) completed a battery of clinical measures and a series of questions assessing loneliness. In the sample, 590 older nondemented African Americans (mean age=74.81, mean education=14.48, male/female=140/450, mean MMSE=27.51) were demographically matched with 590 older nondemented White participants (mean age=74.88, mean education=14.43, male/female=125/465, mean MMSE=28.38) according to age, education, and sex using propensity score matching procedures. Multiple regression analyses adjusting for the effects of age, education, and sex revealed older African Americans reported less loneliness than White adults (estimate=-0.1336, SE=0.0361, p <0.001). This effect remained significant even after further adjusting for the effects of cognitive function and socioeconomic status (estimate=-0.2158, SE=0.0387, p <0.001). In additional models, loneliness was associated with lower cognitive function (estimate=-0.0542, SE=0.0247, p=0.028); however, there was no evidence observed for a race by loneliness interaction. Older African Americans endorsed lower levels of loneliness than demographically matched older White adults, even after adjusting further for socioeconomic status and cognitive function. Loneliness was associated with lower cognitive function; however, this did not differ by race. More research is needed to determine the underlying mechanisms contributing to race differences in loneliness in old age.