Death anxiety and loneliness are major issues for older people. The present study aimed to broaden the understanding of factors that are linked with increased loneliness in old age by examining the association between death anxiety and loneliness, and the role of an unexplored variable among older adults, namely, parental self-efficacy. A convenience sample of 362 Israeli parents over the age of 65 was recruited through means of social media. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires, which included background characteristics, death anxiety, parental self-efficacy, and loneliness measures. The findings showed that death anxiety was positively associated with loneliness among older adults. The findings also confirmed that parental self-efficacy moderated this association in this population. We concluded that the combination of death anxiety and low parental self-efficacy identified a group of older adults that are at higher risk of developing increased loneliness levels. Mental health professionals should consider intergenerational relationships as a fundamental component of older adults’ daily lives, focusing on parental self-efficacy in old age, as this appears to be a resilience resource.

中文翻译：

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老年人的死亡焦虑和孤独感：父母自我效能感的作用

死亡焦虑和孤独是老年人的主要问题。本研究旨在通过检查死亡焦虑与孤独感之间的关联，以及一个未探索变量在老年人中的作用，即父母自我效能感，来拓宽对与老年孤独感增加相关的因素的理解。通过社交媒体招募了 362 名 65 岁以上的以色列父母的便利样本。参与者完成了自我报告的问卷，其中包括背景特征、死亡焦虑、父母自我效能感和孤独感测量。研究结果表明，死亡焦虑与老年人的孤独感呈正相关。研究结果还证实，父母的自我效能在这个人群中调节了这种关联。我们得出的结论是，死亡焦虑和父母自我效能感低下的结合确定了一组老年人孤独感增加的风险更高。精神卫生专业人员应将代际关系视为老年人日常生活的基本组成部分，重点关注晚年父母的自我效能，因为这似乎是一种弹性资源。