Frailty and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults: Examining reciprocal associations within a measurement burst design
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Background
Previous research indicates that frailty and loneliness are interrelated. The aim of this study is to analyze their possible reciprocal relationship while disentangling between- and within-person effects. The separation of these sources of variance is vital for a better understanding of potential causal mechanisms.
Methods
Within the FRequent health Assessment In Later life (FRAIL70+) project, participants aged 70 and over completed two measurement bursts spread one year apart with seven biweekly assessments each. The final sample consisted of 426 individuals at baseline ( M age =77.2; SD =5.4; 64.6% female). A latent curve model with structured residuals was used to examine the potential reciprocal relationship between frailty (37-item deficit accumulation approach) and loneliness (3-item UCLA scale).
Results
No relevant cross-lagged effects over repeated 2-week periods were found between frailty and loneliness at the within-person level, but increases in frailty co-occurred with increases in loneliness. At the between-person level, higher levels of frailty correlated with higher levels of loneliness in each burst.
Conclusion
The findings do not support the assumption that frailty and loneliness share a causal reciprocal relationship over weeks and months. Nonetheless, higher levels of frailty were weakly associated with higher levels of loneliness at the within- and considerably associated at the between-person level, which may indicate a common source of both domains.
