The changing relationship between partnership status and loneliness: Effects related to aging and to historical time.

Objectives: Partnership status is a central predictor of loneliness. The strength of this predictive relationship, however, may decrease in the course of aging and over historical time. Moreover, there may be aging-related and historical changes in the satisfaction with partnership and singlehood.

Method: Longitudinal data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) assessed in 2008 and 2014 (N = 6,188, age range: 40 to 85 years) was analyzed with multi-group structural equation models to disentangle aging-related and historical changes in the relationship of partnership status and loneliness and in the average level of satisfaction with partnership and singlehood.

Results: With advancing age, partnership status became less predictive of loneliness and the satisfaction with being single increased. Among later born cohorts, the association between partnership status and loneliness was less strong than among earlier born cohorts. Later born single people were more satisfied with being single than their earlier born counterparts. There was no indication for an aging-related or historical decrease in partnership satisfaction.

Discussion: The relevance of partnership status as a predictor of social well-being is neither universal nor stable but appears to change in the course of aging and across historical time.