Associations between loneliness and frailty among older adults: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

Table 3 Standardized estimates of the cross-lagged relationship between change in loneliness and change in frailty

Path	Standardized coefficient
Path	β(SE)
Correlation
T₁ loneliness \(\leftrightarrow\) T₁ frailty	0.29(0.019)^***
∆_Early loneliness \(\leftrightarrow\) ∆_Early frailty	0.14(0.022)^***
∆_Late loneliness \(\leftrightarrow\) ∆_Late frailty	0.20(0.023)^***
Autoregressive
T₁ loneliness → ∆_Early loneliness	–0.70(0.016)^***
T₁ loneliness → ∆_Late loneliness	–0.47(0.027)^***
∆_Early loneliness → ∆_Late loneliness	–0.71(0.023)^***
T₁ frailty → ∆_Early frailty	–0.71(0.014)^***
T₁ frailty → ∆_Late frailty	–0.55(0.024)^***
∆_Early frailty → ∆_Late frailty	–0.78(0.020)^***
Cross-lagged
T₁ loneliness → ∆_Early frailty	0.04(0.023)⁺
T₁ loneliness → ∆_Late frailty	0.04(0.025)
∆_Earlyloneliness → ∆_Late frailty	–0.01(0.023)
T₁ frailty → ∆_Early loneliness	0.03(0.018)⁺
T₁ frailty → ∆_Late loneliness	0.09(0.027)^**
∆_Early frailty → ∆_Late loneliness	0.06(0.024)^*

Note, ^*** P < 0.001, ^** P < 0.01, ^* P < 0.05; ⁺ P < 0.1
The model fit indices were CFI = 0.998, RMSEA = 0.019, and SRMR = 0.004. Combined with the previous cross-lagged model results (Table 2), the positive cross-lagged path between loneliness and frailty across time, as well as both positive autoregressive path in loneliness and frailty, suggesting that an increase in the level of loneliness or frailty at a specific time point leads to an increase in the variable itself or another variable at a subsequent time point. Therefore, we interpreted the "change" as a deepening of the level of the variable

ISSN: 1471-2318