Social Isolation, Loneliness, Health & the Aging Process

拟议的项目赠款的目的是将社会学、心理学和 对社会孤立之间的关系和潜在的机制进行生物层面的分析， 感觉孤独感、健康、衰老的过程。社会关系是情感成就感的基础， 行为调节和认知功能。最近的研究表明，情感上的亲密感 恋爱关系随着年龄的增长而增加。然而，社会关系的数量减少了，社交事件引发了 孤独在老年人中持续存在。此外，他们的身体正在老化，往往不太适应，所以这些 心理社会挑战可能会使他们容易感到孤独、焦虑不安、兴奋和 神经内分泌应激反应延长，健康状况不佳。孤独感预示着疾病的发病率和死亡率 即使在控制了健康行为和生物风险因素之后，也是基于晚年生活中的原因。了解 因此，可以研究孤独感的前因及其对身心健康的影响 在老年人中很有效，这一点尤其重要，因为在美国，预期寿命已经增加， 老年人的数量急剧增加。项目1在老年人中使用纵向设计来检查 孤独感的时间稳定性、孤独感体验的预测因子以及生理(例如， 自主性)和与孤独相关的行为(如健康行为、睡眠)影响。项目2使用 全国调查数据和相关的医疗保险索赔数据，以检查孤独的来源和后果 社会环境中的压力。项目3是一个易受社会孤立和破坏的动物模型 个体特征，识别增加感染风险的特定激素和免疫后遗症 以及衰老过程中的恶性疾病。还有两个核心为项目提供广泛支持：核心A 行政核心，核心B，数据管理和统计管理核心。

The purpose of the proposed Program Project Grant is to bring together sociological, psychological, and biological levels of analyses to bear on the relationships among and mechanisms underlying social isolation, feelings of loneliness, health, and the aging process. Social relationships are fundamental to emotional fulfillment, behavioral adjustment, and cognitive function. Recent research has shown that emotional closeness in relationships increases with age. Yet the number of social relationships decreases and social events triggering loneliness continue in the older adult. Moreover, they are physically aging and tend to be less resilient so these psychosocial challenges could potentially leave them vulnerable to feelings of loneliness, dysphoria, elevated and prolonged neuroendocrine stress responses, and ill health. Loneliness predicts morbidity and mortality from broad based causes in later life even after controlling for health behaviors and biological risk factors. Understanding the antecedents of feelings of loneliness and their consequences for mental and physical health can thus be studied effectively in older adults and is particularly important because life expectancy has increased in the U.S., increasing dramatically the number of older adults. Project 1uses a longitudinal design in older adults to examine the temporal stability of loneliness, the predictors of the experience of loneliness, and the physiological (e.g., autonomic) and behavioral (e.g., health behaviors, sleep) effects associated with loneliness. Project 2 uses national survey data and linked Medicare claims data to examine the origins and consequences of loneliness and stress in the social environment. Project 3 is an animal model of vulnerability to social isolation and disruption as an individual trait, identifying the specific hormonal and immunological sequelae that increase risk for infectious and malignant disease during aging. There are also two cores that provide broad support to the projects: Core A the administrative core, and Core B the data management and statistical management core.