Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Publication Title

Research on Aging

Keywords

loneliness, latent class analysis, multidimensional vulnerabilities

Abstract

Loneliness in later life is a significant global public health issue that negatively impacts well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health. This study investigates how material, health, and social vulnerabilities contribute to loneliness among older adults using a welfare regime framework. It examines the link between vulnerability and loneliness in the United States, Korea, Sweden, Spain, and Germany using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) alongside its international sister studies, encompassing both Western and East Asian welfare states. Findings indicate that older adults in less generous welfare regimes experience higher levels of loneliness and material vulnerability. A multidimensional approach reveals that the most urgently vulnerable population is the multiply vulnerable group. Vulnerable groups are more likely to experience loneliness, with divergent associations emerging across countries. Cross-national variations demonstrate how institutional arrangements can either mitigate or exacerbate the relationship between vulnerability and loneliness

Funding Source

This research was supported by Chungnam National University. This article was published Open Access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Sage Journals.

DOI

10.1177/01640275251330214

Comments

First published in Research on Aging (2025): https://doi.org/10.1177/01640275251330214

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed.

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