How perceiving pace of social change affects loneliness: psychological obsolescence as predictor for loneliness in late-life sample

A specific challenge of later life relates to the perceived pace of social change (i.e., psychological obsolescence), which may contribute to enhanced feelings of loneliness. In a 2-year longitudinal study with two measurement occasions (i.e., 2021 and 2023), data were collected from N = 818 adults aged 75 years and older (M = 80.99, SD = 4.07, range = 75-95 years). Participants were recruited from an urban area in southern Germany. A baseline-adjusted autoregressive path model was used to examine the concurrent association of psychological obsolescence with baseline loneliness and its prospective association with follow-up loneliness, accounting for baseline loneliness. Loneliness was assessed using the 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale and modeled as a manifest variable. Perceived obsolescence was significantly associated with baseline loneliness, with higher loneliness observed among individuals reporting greater psychological obsolescence. At follow-up, psychological obsolescence also showed a significant prospective association with loneliness after accounting for baseline loneliness. Over the two-year period, loneliness demonstrated substantial temporal stability. Among the covariates, being socially isolated and not being in a partnership were associated with higher follow-up loneliness. Overall, the findings suggest that, in later life, perceiving oneself as out of touch with the times is associated with higher loneliness both concurrently and prospectively, beyond the effects of prior loneliness and other established covariates.