Interaction of widowhood, gender, and age in predicting loneliness among older adults in China

Abstract

Background

Loneliness is a significant issue for the elderly, and widowhood is considered a major risk factor. However, research on the intersectional effects of gender, age, and widowhood on loneliness is limited, especially within the Chinese cultural context.

Methods

Using six waves (2002–2018) of national longitudinal data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (N = 22,777), this study employed multilevel mixed-effects ordered logistic regression to analyze the impact of widowhood on loneliness. Moderating roles of gender and age were examined through interaction effects.

Results

Widowhood significantly increased loneliness across genders and age groups, but this effect diminished with age. Widowed men experienced greater loneliness than women, but this difference converged by age 90. The buffering effect of age on the widowhood-loneliness link was less pronounced among older women.

Conclusion

The study unravels the complexity of how gender, age, and widowhood interact to shape loneliness in later life. Targeted interventions considering these intersections are needed to alleviate loneliness among Chinese widowed elderly.

Keywords:

• Age
• gender
• interaction
• loneliness
• widowhood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data used in this study come from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), which is publicly available to researchers upon request. The CLHLS data access policy follows the Taylor & Francis share upon reasonable request principle. Researchers can obtain free access to the data by formal registration. Researchers who wish to access the CLHLS data files should submit a data usage agreement to the CLHLS team. More details about the data access application process can be found at [https://opendata.pku.edu.cn/dataverse/CHADS;jsessionid=943424e8b1b49c937c14468d19c8#]. The authors confirm they were granted access to the data used in this study by completing the CLHLS data usage agreement, which outlines ethical use of the data. The authors are unable to directly share the CLHLS data used, but interested researchers can apply to access the data via the contact details provided on the website The computer code used to generate results presented in this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

Funding is from the National Social Sciences Research Funds [grant number 19BRK013] for “the research on Health Transition and Health Needs of the Elderly”.