Loneliness as a Potential Mechanism of the Association Between Ageism and Mental Health Outcomes in the Chilean Context

Javiera Rosell*, Alvaro Vergés

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The negative impact of ageism on the mental health of older persons has been well studied, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship have not been explored in detail. The present study examines the relationship of ageism with depressive and anxious symptoms in older people, evaluating the indirect effect via loneliness. The analysis was carried out with a sample of 577 older adults living in Chile, using structural equation modeling to assess the direct and indirect effects of the proposed model. The results showed the direct and indirect association of ageism with mental health outcomes. Ageism is positively related to loneliness and, in turn, to increased depressive and anxious symptoms. We discuss how loneliness linked with an ageist context contributes to anxiety and depressive symptomatology in the older population and the need to reduce ageism to favor the mental health of this age group.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1245-1254
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Applied Gerontology
Volume42
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.

Keywords

  • ageism
  • anxiety
  • depression
  • loneliness
  • older adults

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