ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1678246
This article is part of the Research TopicTracing Loneliness in Aging: Understanding the Interplay and Exploring Innovative InterventionsView all 3 articles
The Impact of bidirectional emotional support on Social Isolation in Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Depression and the Moderating Role of Activities of Daily Living
Provisionally accepted
- School of Nursing, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
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Objective To investigate the impact of bidirectional emotional support on social isolation among community-dwelling older adults and the underlying mechanisms of this effect. Methods In this study, 1,136 community-dwelling older adults were recruited from Hefei City, China in 2022 using a stratified random sampling method. Data were collected using the General Information Questionnaire, the Intergenerational Support Scale, the Social Network Scale, the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Scale. Correlation analyses, as well as mediation and moderation tests, were conducted to examine the relationship between bidirectional emotional support and social isolation. Results Bidirectional emotional support significantly predicted (β = 0.213, P < 0.01) social isolation in older adults. Depression partially mediated the relationship between bidirectional emotional support and social isolation, with an indirect effect of 0.066, representing 23.66% of the total effect. ADL substantially moderated (β = 0.068, P < 0.01) the impact of bidirectional emotional support on depression. Conclusion Bidirectional emotional support is a key modifiable factor influencing social isolation. Its impact is partly mediated by depressive symptoms and is also moderated by ADL. These findings suggest that "bidirectional emotional support" should be incorporated into the National Essential Public Health Services Program. Depression screening should be conducted during primary care visits, and emotional support should be provided in a tiered manner based on activities of daily living capabilities to alleviate social isolation among older adults.
Keywords: Bidirectional Emotional Support, Depression, Social Isolation, ADL, older adults
Received: 02 Aug 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Shi, Song, Liu, Zheng and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Annuo Liu, w971002y@sohu.com
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