The link between finances and loneliness in older adults

Older adults who didn’t have enough savings to cover emergency expenses during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic faced another surprising problem: higher levels of loneliness.

In a new study, researchers at The Ohio State University found that adults over the age of 65 faced increases in loneliness during the pandemic, regardless of income level or wealth.

But those who said they would have to use a credit card to pay off an emergency expense over time were more likely to report high levels of loneliness.

“Our study puts a spotlight on the potential dangers of credit card debt and how it can be directly linked to loneliness in older adults,” said Cäzilia Loibl, co-author of the study and professor and chair of consumer sciences at Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology.

The data can’t tell why credit card debt is linked to loneliness, but the researchers do have a possible explanation, said study co-author Madeleine Drost, a research manager at Ohio State’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs.

“We believe that those who have this financial burden are under a lot of stress, and may not feel like it is something they can discuss with their friends and maybe even their family,” Drost said.

“It may lead older adults in this situation to isolate themselves and be less likely to interact with their community.”

The study, published online recently in the journal PLOS One, involved 7,149 adults aged 65 and older.  They participated in the Data Foundation’s COVID Impact Survey, conducted by the University of Chicago’s NORC research organization.

Participants were interviewed three separate times between April and June 2020. The pandemic lockdown was already in effect when participants were first interviewed, but had eased somewhat by their final interview.

Findings showed that, in general, higher income and wealth did not protect older adults from loneliness during those early months of the pandemic.

“Loneliness hit people across the economic spectrum,” Loibl said.

But emergency savings did make a difference. Participants were asked how they would pay an unexpected expense that costs $400. Those who said they would put it on a credit card and pay over time tended to have higher levels of loneliness than those who said they could pay the expense immediately.

This finding fits in with previous research that had shown that credit card debt was linked to financial stress in older adults, and financial stress with higher levels of loneliness, Drost said.

The study also examined how the actions taken by older adults to avoid a COVID-19 infection and the personal plans they changed due to the pandemic affected loneliness levels, when linked to their economic status.

Participants reported whether they washed and sanitized their hands, kept six feet of distance from those outside their household and wore a face mask.  They were also asked if they had to change personal plans because of pandemic-related restrictions.

“Emergency savings, income and wealth did not influence how these actions impacted loneliness,” Drost said. “The COVID-19 pandemic hurt nearly everyone in our sample to some degree.”

One possibility that the researchers investigated was that the easing of lockdown restrictions would have helped reduce the loneliness felt by older adults in the sample.  The researchers were able to measure that because the last interview was when lockdown restrictions were eased.

But the results didn’t find any relief for participants.

“The strong association of loneliness with a lack of emergency funds and COVID-19 measures did not improve for respondents in our sample after lockdowns were lifted,” Loibl said.

“It points to longer-lasting implications of loneliness experienced due to limited savings.”

While this study was done during the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers believe the findings will continue to be relevant.

Many older adults would benefit from financial and credit counseling that may help them now, but will be especially valuable when another emergency strikes.

“We need to consider our senior citizens during times of crisis, and how these situations will likely increase their loneliness, especially if they have issues like a lack of emergency savings,” Drost said.

Other co-authors on the study were Anastasia Snyder and Michael Betz, both associate professors of human development and family science at Ohio State.