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Updated: May 10, 2025

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Published on: May 10, 2019
Racial and ethnic differences in loneliness among older adults: evidence from California
Eleanor Batista-Malat1, Lauren Brown1, Kathleen H Wilber1
1Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States.
Objectives:
Loneliness is a common experience in older adulthood and is associated with mortality. However, it is still unclear how demographic and health characteristics associated with loneliness vary between racial/ethnic groups. This study aims to understand the intra- and intergroup racial/ethnic differences in the characteristics associated with loneliness in a sample of older adults from a California Department of Aging program.
Method:
Pooled and stratified descriptive statistics and stratified logistic regression models with multiple imputation (N = 1436).
Results:
Non-Hispanic White older adults reported the highest percentage of loneliness (38.0%) while Asian American/Pacific Islander older adults reported the lowest percentage of loneliness (18.0%). Self-rated health was associated with lower likelihood of loneliness among non-Hispanic Black (OR = 0.37, p = 0.001) and Asian American/Pacific Islander (OR = 0.50, p = 0.030) older adults. Depression symptoms were associated with higher likelihood of loneliness among non-Hispanic White (OR = 2.40, p = 0.007), Hispanic/Latino (OR = 2.24, p = 0.004), and Asian American/Pacific Islander (OR = 5.64, p = 0.001) older adults.
Conclusion:
Although there are some similarities in characteristics associated with loneliness among racially/ethnically diverse groups of older adults, there are notable differences including self-rated health, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms.
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