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Higher digital embracement is associated with lower levels of loneliness among late middle-aged and older adults

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  • معلومة اضافية
    • Publisher Information:
      Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för hälsovetenskaper Högskolan i Skövde, Forskningsmiljön hälsa, hållbarhet och digitalisering 2026
    • نبذة مختصرة :
      Introduction: Loneliness, a global health problem, increases with advancing age. The digitalization of society has the potential to either increase or decrease loneliness. This study aims to investigate the cross-sectional association between digital living and loneliness in the context of other risk factors in a sample of late middle-aged and older adults, using a measure of embracement of digitalization in daily life. Methods: In total, 441 Swedish adults (response rate 44%) aged 55 to 93 years of age who responded from December 2023 to January 2024. Embracement of digitalization was measured using the Digital Living Index, and loneliness with the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Results: The mean score for perceived loneliness was 35.64 (SD = 10.55), positioning the participants at the threshold between low and moderate levels of loneliness. In the final multivariate linear regression model, including established risk factors for loneliness, low digital living was estimated to be 3.3 and 4.1 units higher in loneliness compared to mid and high digital living (p = 0.005), respectively. Mental health was estimated to be the strongest predictor of loneliness, with a difference of 14.1 units between bad or very bad mental health and very good (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Higher digital living appears to be associated with lower levels of loneliness even when other established risk factors for loneliness are controlled for. Supporting late middle-aged and older adults to overcome the digital divide, from access and use to embracement, could potentially be a tool to battle loneliness, and hence to improve public health.
      CC BY 4.0© 2026 Dahl Aslan, Thelander, Bjerkeli and GellerstedtCorrespondence Address: A.K. Dahl Aslan; School of Health Sciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden; email: anna.dahl.aslan@his.seThe author(s) declared that financial support was received for this work and/or its publication. Data collection was supported by the municipality of Skövde.
    • الموضوع:
      digital divide; digital health; loneliness; old age; older adults; public health; Aged; 80 and over; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sweden; cross-sectional study; human; psychology; questionnaire; risk factor; very elderly; Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine; Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa och socialmedicin; Geriatrics; Geriatrik; Article in journal; info:eu-repo/semantics/article; text
    • الرقم المعرف:
      10.3389.fpubh.2025.1721185
    • Availability:
      Open access content. Open access content
      info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
    • Note:
      application/pdf
      English
    • Other Numbers:
      UPE oai:DiVA.org:his-26143
      0000-0002-6305-8993
      0000-0003-4616-9525
      0000-0002-0575-4309
      doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1721185
      PMID 41584166
      ISI:001669035800001
      Scopus 2-s2.0-105028559357
      1582457315
    • Contributing Source:
      UPPSALA UNIV LIBR
      From OAIster®, provided by the OCLC Cooperative.
    • الرقم المعرف:
      edsoai.on1582457315
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