Attachment in Infancy and Early Childhood

Posada, Germán; Trumbell, Jill M.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.21811-7

Cited by 1 publication

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“…The mechanisms through which early social relationships can be associated with loneliness in later life are mainly grounded in social developmental theories [ 42 ]. Based on Bowlby and Ainsworth’s theory of attachment [ 43 – 45 ], it has been shown that the parent–child relationship—and the mother–child relationship in particular—plays a crucial role in developing secure attachment skills, leading to better social, emotional, and cognitive skills later in life [ 46 , 47 ]. A lack of (close) friendships is similarly detrimental to the development of social skills, self-esteem, and self-perception, and it leads to increased long-lasting feelings of rejection [ 48 , 49 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness among older adults in Europe: The relative importance of early and later life conditions

Guthmuller

2022

PLoS ONE

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The aim of this paper is to study the association between childhood circumstances and loneliness in older adults in Europe. Based on rich information collected by the Survey on Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) on childhood characteristics and individual characteristics at age 50+, the study is able to control for personality traits, socioeconomic and demographic factors, social support and health in later life, and country-specific characteristics. The analyses show strong correlations between life circumstances in childhood and feeling lonely in older age; these correlations remain significant after adjusting for covariates. While ill health is the main factor correlated with loneliness at 50+, as expected, the analysis of the relative importance of the determinants reveals that personality traits account for more than 10% of the explained variance and that life circumstances during childhood account for 7%. Social support at older ages is the second highest category of factors, accounting for 27%—with, interestingly, support at home and social network characteristics contributing about 10% each, engaging in activities and computer skills accounting for 7% of the explained variance. Demographic and socioeconomic factors account for 6% and country-level characteristics contribute 5%. This paper points out the relevance of early life interventions to tackling loneliness in older age, and it shows that early interventions and interventions aiming at increasing social support in later life need to be adapted to all personality types. Thus, the role of childhood circumstances and the mechanisms explaining the association between loneliness in childhood and loneliness in later life deserve more attention in future research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness among older adults in Europe: The relative importance of early and later life conditions

Guthmuller

2022

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Attachment in Infancy and Early Childhood

Cited by 1 publication

References 21 publications

Loneliness among older adults in Europe: The relative importance of early and later life conditions

Loneliness among older adults in Europe: The relative importance of early and later life conditions

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