How is the Beginning and End of Frequent Laughter Associated With Changes in Loneliness Amongst Older People in...

Little is known about the association between frequency of laughter and loneliness-in particular based on longitudinal data. Therefore, our aim was to examine how the onset and the end of frequent laughter is associated with changes in loneliness amongst older people in Japan.

Longitudinal data were taken from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES, waves 6 and 7 with n = 5262 observations, mean age was 74.4 years, SD: 5.8 years). The widely used and psychometrically sound UCLA-3 was used to quantify loneliness. Frequency of laughing served as key independent variable. Asymmetric linear fixed effects regressions were used, adjusting for several time-varying covariates.

After adjusting for several sociodemographic, lifestyle-related and health-related time-varying factors, there was a significant association between the onset of frequent laughing and decreases in loneliness (β = -0.18, p < 0.05). Age and sex did not moderate this association. In contrast, the cessation of frequent laughter was not significantly associated with changes in loneliness.

Starting frequent laughter may help to avoid negative consequences such as loneliness among older adults in Japan. This may emphasize the importance of finding ways to start laughing frequently. Efforts to reduce loneliness are important because it is in turn associated with outcomes such as morbidity and mortality.