Relationship Difficulty Is Associated With Poorer Mental Health in Later Life

TL;DR

This study finds that having difficult relationships in later life is linked to worse mental health, including loneliness, depression, and anxiety.

Contribution

The study reveals that relationship difficulty in older adults' social networks is associated with poorer mental health outcomes.

Findings

Relationship difficulty is significantly linked to higher levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety in older adults.

The negative mental health effects of difficult relationships are most strongly observed in depression.

Difficult relationships can undermine the mental health benefits of social integration in later life.

Abstract

Integration into social networks is an important promotor of well-being and aging healthily, yet the dark side of social networks includes encounters with network members that are perceived as unpleasant, demanding, or difficult. This study investigates the association of relationship difficulty in older adults’ core networks with the mental health outcomes of loneliness, depression, and anxiety.

Survey data were collected from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) on relationship difficulty in personal networks and mental health. The sample included 892 respondents (mean age = 73; range = 61–100). The analytical models used 2-step estimation with inverse-probability weights for testing differences in the three mental outcomes between older adults with and without difficult relationships. Differences were tested using cross-sectional and longitudinal mental health observations.

The presence of relationship difficulty was significantly associated with poorer mental health on all three conditions in the cross-sectional models. Lagged effects were significant on depression only and weakest on anxiety.

For some older adults, instances where they feel pressured into upholding and continuing difficult relationships can be linked to higher incidences of adverse mental health outcomes. As such, social integration can be a double-edged sword, and research and practice should consider its potentially negative impacts.

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