社会隔离、孤独感对老年精神健康的影响及作用机制研究

社会隔离和孤独感已成为重要的社会和公共健康问题,其对老年人精神健康的影响越来越受到关注。基于2014年中国老年社会调查数据(CLASS),采用多元回归和中介路径分析方法,研究了社会隔离、孤独感对老年人精神健康的影响,并考察了其内在作用机制。多元回归结果显示:社会隔离、孤独感与老年人精神健康显著相关。遭遇家庭隔离的老年人抑郁度更高,生活满意度更低;遭遇朋友隔离的老年人抑郁度更高,但朋友隔离与老年人生活满意度在统计上不相关;孤独的老年人抑郁度更高,生活满意度更低。中介路径分析发现,孤独感在社会隔离与抑郁之间发生了部分中介作用,孤独感和抑郁在社会隔离与生活满意度之间发生了多步中介作用。本研究表明,社会隔离、孤独感均与老年人精神健康独立相关,且孤独感是社会隔离影响老年人精神健康的重要机制。本研究启示,政府应出台相关政策,保障老年人良好的社会关系状态;家庭成员应增强与老年人互动,帮助老年人维护良好社会联系状态,预防老年人的社会隔离及其引起的精神健康问题。

The Association and Mechanism between Social Isolation,Loneliness and Mental Health of Older People

Social isolation and loneliness are serious public health problems. The health and well-being consequences of social isolation and loneliness in old age are increasingly being recogonized. Based on 2014 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey( CLASS),this research analyzes the association of social isolation and loneliness and mental health of the older people.By using multivariate linear regression and path analytical methods,the current study examines the intrinsic mechanism of social isolation and mental health. It is found that the mental health of the older adults is affected by social isolation and loneliness. Family isolation is significantly positively correlated with the depression and negatively with the life satisfaction of the older people. Friend isolation is significantly positively correlated with depression,but has no relationship with life satisfaction of the older people. Loneliness is positively correlated with the depression and negatively correlated with the life satisfaction of the older people. Loneliness is an important mechanism to explain the effect of social isolation on depression,that is,loneliness mediates the correlation of them. There is a multistep mediation effect introduced by loneliness and depression between social isolation and life satisfaction. This investigation has some implications: Governments and families should pay more attention to the social interactions of the older people,and provide more social network and social support opportunities for them in order to prevent mental health problems caused by social isolation.