A-59: Caregiving Frequency and Loneliness Among Older Women: Examining the Role of Marital Status

Abstract

Objective: Loneliness is an important topic in the field of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. Women usually served as informal caregivers for individuals with neurodegenerative conditions. However, the relationship between caregiving intensity and loneliness remains unexplored among women. This study examined whether caregiving frequency predicted loneliness among older women and whether marital status moderated this association. Method/Data Selection: We used a dataset from the 2022 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of Americans aged 50 and older. We include a data sample of 2,309 women (mean age approximately 70 years, standard deviation [SD] = 10.15; mean education = 13.21 years, SD = 3.00; 53.2% married or partnered). We used the Hughes three-item scale, reverse-coded and averaged, to assess loneliness. Caregiving frequency was categorized as rarely/never(n = 1,896), sometimes (n = 120), or frequently (n = 293). Marital status was dichotomized as married/partnered versus unmarried. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted in three steps: covariates (age, education), caregiving frequency, and the interaction between caregiving frequency and marital status. Results/Data Synthesis: Covariates accounted for minimal variance (R2 = .005, p = .002). Adding caregiving frequency did not significantly improve model fit (ΔR2 = .001, p = .301). The addition of marital status and the interaction term significantly improved prediction (ΔR2 = .048, p .53). Conclusions: Contrary to expectations, caregiving frequency was not associated with loneliness among older women. Being unmarried emerged as the predominant predictor, with a small-to-medium effect size. These findings suggest that neuropsychologists working with older female caregivers of patients with neurodegenerative disease should prioritize screening for loneliness based on partnership status rather than caregiving burden alone, given the established link between loneliness and cognitive decline. Additional longitudinal research is needed to clarify directionality before these findings are applied in clinical settings.