My loneliness is killing me: loneliness explains within-socioeconomic-group differences in depression and health among older European adults

Health disparities exist not only between, but also within socioeconomic groups with the greatest variation within the lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups. The sources of this within-SES-group variation are not yet well-understood. We investigate the role of loneliness in within-SES-group variation in health using a sample of 12,918 individuals from SHARE survey waves 3 and 5. To analyse the impact of loneliness on within- and between-SES group variation in health we consider depression, self-assessed health and chronic diseases as health outcomes. Income is used as a primary indicator of SES, but the results are similar if the level of education is used instead. Our results show that loneliness is correlated with SES, but even after controlling for SES, it explains a substantial amount of within-group differences in depression, self-assessed health and chronic diseases. Counterfactual analysis suggests substantial health gains in depression may be achieved if this inequality in loneliness could be eliminated. Better understanding of within-group differences would allow developing effective policy tools for health improvement without the necessity of adjusting the underlying socioeconomic conditions.