ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2021
Loving Others: The Impact of Compassionate Love on Later-Life Psychological Well-being.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Incongruent symptom perceptions and its associations with negative mood, intimate relationship and quality of life in colorectal cancer dyads: a dyadic analysis.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2026Article
- Self-Giving and Reflections on Life Extension: How Love Might Shape the Choice of Whether to Live Past a Natural Human Lifespan.Bioethics · 2026Article
- A Conceptual Model for Strengthening Family Capabilities Through a Process of Care.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Utilization and Perception of Peer-Support After Lower Limb Loss in the United States: Potential Benefits on Mobility Outcomes.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- The Identity Vitality-Pathology model: A novel theoretical framework proposing "identity state" as a modulator of the pathways from structural to health inequity.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesExisting 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.
methodDrawing 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.
resultsAn 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.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.