Middle-Aged Is the Loneliest Number

For adults in the US, loneliness peaks in middle age, according to a new study by an Emory researcher.

Published in the journal Aging and Mental Health, the study found middle-aged Americans demonstrated higher levels of loneliness than older adults.

This designation was shared with only one other country in the study.

The investigation surveyed more than 64,000 adults age 50 and older living in 29 countries across Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

Led by researchers from Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, Columbia University, McGill University in Canada, and Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile, the study showed loneliness generally increases with age.

But middle-aged people in the United States and the Netherlands felt lonelier than older generations.

“There is a general perception that people get lonelier as they age, but the opposite is actually true in the US where middle-aged people are lonelier than older generations,” says lead author Robin Richardson, assistant professor of epidemiology at Rollins.

“Advocacy and interventions to address the loneliness epidemic have historically focused on older adults and adolescents. Middle-aged adults represent a critical population that is being overlooked.”