Social participation and loneliness in older adults: the moderating role of views of social change

Our study aims to investigate the relationship between social participation and loneliness among Chinese older adults and examine how their views of social change moderate the strength of this relationship. The cross-sectional nationwide data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) was used. Results show that increased online participation and community participation were associated with decreased loneliness, while greater workforce participation was associated with increased loneliness. Moreover, older adults’ views of social change could moderate the association between their community participation and loneliness. Our findings indicate that promoting social participation and addressing older adults’ views of social change would help tackle later-life loneliness.