Personal agency and social connection are associated with loneliness over time

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between social connections and personal agency, as well as their association with loneliness over time. Utilizing four waves of data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, analyses found four distinct prototypes within each data wave that reflect combinations of social connection and personal agency. Subsequent analyses showed that one prototype (low agency, low communion) experienced the highest levels of loneliness, while another (high agency, high communion) reported the lowest. The remaining two prototypes exhibited intermediate loneliness despite differences in the social connection levels between them. Tracking transitions between prototypes across waves revealed that shifts toward less favorable prototypes were associated with increased loneliness, whereas transitions toward more favorable prototypes were associated with reduced loneliness. These findings enhance our understanding of loneliness, an experience generally thought to be driven by relational deficits, highlighting the role of personal agency.