Loneliness and activities of daily living performance in older adults: Exploring the moderating role of cognition

ABSTRACT

Nearly 43% of individuals aged 60 and older experience loneliness (Perissinotto et al., 2012), which is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2009;Gow et al., 2007) and impairment in performance of activities of daily living (Ferreira-Alves et al., 2014;Holmen et al., 1992;Perissinotto et al., 2012). The present study examined cognition as a moderator of the relationship between loneliness and both basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADLs;IADLs) amongst older adults. It was hypothesized that cognitive functioning would moderate the relationship between loneliness and ADLs/IADLs, such that higher cognition would lessen the impact of loneliness on ADL/IADL performance, whereas lower cognition would not afford a buffering effect. Participants (N = 106) were community and non-community dwelling adults 65 years and older who completed a series of self-report questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that cognition moderated the relationship between loneliness and instrumental ADLs. Follow-up simple slope analyses uncovered that loneliness had a greater impact on IADL performance amongst participants with lower cognition, but still exerted significant influence on IADL performance among participants with higher cognition. It is conceivable that exposure to chronic stress and loneliness owing to the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted older adults? functioning, over and above the protective effects afforded by their higher cognition. Further study implications, future research and limitations are discussed, including the recruitment of a small, homogeneous sample and the limited generalizability of findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)