Sense of control and loneliness among older adults: distinct longitudinal roles of perceived constraints and personal mastery

OBJECTIVES: Loneliness is a major psychosocial concern in later life, yet its longitudinal links with distinct dimensions of sense of control remain unclear. This study examined associations between loneliness, perceived constraints, and personal mastery while separating stable between-person differences from within-person change. METHODS: Data were drawn from 8,404 adults aged 50 and older in the Health and Retirement Study. Using four harmonized measurement occasions, two random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) paired loneliness separately with perceived constraints and personal mastery. RESULTS: At the between-person level, higher average loneliness was associated with higher perceived constraints and lower personal mastery. At the within-person level, loneliness and perceived constraints were reciprocally associated over time. Higher perceived constraints were associated with higher subsequent loneliness, and higher loneliness was associated with higher subsequent perceived constraints. Higher loneliness was associated with lower subsequent personal mastery, whereas personal mastery was not consistently associated with later loneliness. Three-occasion sensitivity analyses preserved these patterns. CONCLUSION: Perceived constraints and personal mastery showed distinct longitudinal relationships with loneliness. The reciprocal within-person association between perceived constraints and loneliness suggests that psychosocial care may need to address constraint-related appraisals, while the loneliness-to-mastery pathway highlights the relevance of supporting agency among older adults experiencing loneliness.