ArticlePsychiatry investigation2026
Loneliness, Depression, and Subjective Memory Complaints in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: The Role of Meaning in Life.
Article in Psychiatry investigation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis study examined whether depressive symptoms mediate the association between loneliness and subjective memory complaints (SMCs), and whether meaning in life (MIL) moderates this pathway, among middle-aged and older Korean adults.
methodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted with 580 adults aged 41-71 years (mean age=58.80; 54.8% males). Participants completed measures of loneliness, depression, SMCs, and MIL. Mediation (PROCESS Model 4) and moderated mediation (Model 7) analyses were performed using 5,000 bootstrap resamples while adjusting for demographic covariates. Supplementary analyses examined MLQ subscales (Presence and Search for Meaning) and age-stratified models.
resultsLoneliness was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (β=0.523, p<0.001) and SMCs (β=0.131, p=0.008). Depression was also associated with SMCs (β=0.200, p<0.001) and partially mediated the loneliness-SMCs link (indirect effect=0.011; 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.006, 0.018]). The index of moderated mediation was significant (index=-0.0002, 95% CI [-0.0004, -0.0001]). MIL moderated the loneliness-depression association (interaction B=-0.005, p<0.001), with a stronger slope at low MIL (B=0.237) than at high MIL (B=0.148). Subscale analyses showed similar patterns for presence and search when tested separately, but neither showed a unique moderating effect when entered simultaneously. Age-stratified analyses showed depression mediated the loneliness-SMCs link only in older adults, whereas MIL attenuated the loneliness-depression association only in middle-aged adults.
conclusionLoneliness was associated with SMCs partly through depressive symptoms, and MIL may buffer this pathway. These mechanisms differed by life stage, with stronger evidence for depression as a mediator in later life than in midlife, suggesting age-tailored approaches targeting emotional distress and life purpose.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.