Abstract

Objectives

Existing scholarship in social gerontology has paid relatively little attention to broader loving emotions, such as compassionate and altruistic love, as potentially meaningful mechanisms for improving later-life psychological well-being outside a family framework.

Method

Drawing from a 3-wave longitudinal survey of community-dwelling older residents (n = 334) of Miami, Florida, we utilized generalized estimating equation models to examine the influence of changes in compassionate love (i.e., feeling love toward other persons and experiencing love from others) on depressive symptoms over time. We also explored cross-sectional relationship between compassionate love and positive and negative affects.

Results

An increase in the feeling of being loved (β = −0.77, p < .001) and feeling love for others (β = −0.78, p < .001) led to a decline in odds of reporting greater levels of depressive symptoms over time. The odds of reporting higher level of positive affect were significantly greater for older adults who reported feeling loved by others (β = .63, p < .001) and expressed love for other people (β = 0.43, p < .05). Older adults who felt loved and expressed love for other people, respectively, had 0.71 and 0.54-point lower ordered log odds of reporting higher negative affect than those who reported lower levels of love. The statistically significant impact of feeling loved on all well-being outcomes was maintained even after adjustment for altruistic attitudes and emotional support. Except for depressive symptoms, such adjustments explained the positive influence of love for others on well-being outcomes.

Discussion

Our findings underscore the powerful influence of both receiving and giving loving emotions for the maintenance of later-life psychological well-being.

中文翻译：

---

爱他人：富有同情心的爱对晚年心理健康的影响

摘要

目标

社会老年学的现有学术研究相对较少关注更广泛的爱的情感，例如同情和利他的爱，作为改善家庭框架之外的晚年心理健康的潜在有意义的机制。

方法

根据对佛罗里达州迈阿密社区老年居民 ( n = 334) 的3 波纵向调查，我们利用广义估计方程模型来检查富有同情心的爱（即，对他人感受爱和体验爱）变化的影响来自其他人）随着时间的推移出现抑郁症状。我们还探讨了富有同情心的爱与积极和消极影响之间的横截面关系。

结果

随着时间的推移，被爱的感觉（β = -0.77，p < .001）和对他人的爱（β = -0.78，p < .001）导致报告更高水平的抑郁症状的几率下降. 对于报告感到被他人爱 (β = .63, p < .001) 和表达对他人的爱 (β = 0.43, p< .05）。分别感受到爱和表达对他人爱的老年人报告更高负面影响的有序对数几率比报告较低爱水平的人低 0.71 和 0.54 个百分点。即使在调整了利他主义态度和情感支持后，感觉被爱对所有幸福结果的统计显着影响仍然保持。除了抑郁症状，这种调整解释了爱他人对幸福结果的积极影响。

讨论

我们的研究结果强调了接受和给予爱的情绪对维持晚年心理健康的强大影响。