为什么我们当中越来越多的人会感到比以往任何时候都孤立无援

为什么我们当中越来越多的人会感到比以往任何时候都孤立无援

Despite popular belief, baby boomers between 55 and 75 aren't more lonely than prior generations, according to two new studies published Tuesday by the American Psychological Association.

美国心理学会周二公布的两项新研究显示，尽管人们普遍认为，55岁至75岁的婴儿潮一代并不比前几代人更孤独。

But that doesn't mean we won't have a loneliness epidemic in the future, as the baby-boomer population continues to age and younger generations struggle with feelings of isolation.

但这并不意味着我们在未来不会有孤独流行病，因为婴儿潮时期出生的人口继续老龄化，年轻一代正在与孤独的感觉作斗争。

"While the data show we don't need to worry, at this point at least, that our older adults are suffering loneliness at rates higher than they have been suffering in the past, the concern about loneliness is real," said lead author Louise Hawkley, a senior scientist at the nonpartisan research organization NORC at the University of Chicago.

“尽管数据显示我们不需要担心,至少在这一点上,我们的老年人痛苦孤独利率高于过去他们一直痛苦,孤独的担忧是真实的,”主要作者路易斯哈克利说,一个无党派研究机构的资深科学家NORC芝加哥大学。

"It has real consequences for health, for wellbeing, for cognition," she added. "So we can't ignore it. We just need to get smarter about how we deal with loneliness."

“它对健康、幸福感和认知能力都有真正的影响，”她补充道。“所以我们不能忽视它。我们只是需要更聪明地对待孤独。”

No loneliness 'epidemic'

没有孤独“流行病”

Google "loneliness" and you'll see the word "epidemic" widely used. That got Hawkley and her team at NORC (formerly called the National Opinion Research Center) interested in looking at two national databases on aging to see just how true that was.

谷歌（搜索）“孤独”，你会看到“流行病”这个词被广泛使用。这让哈克利和她在NORC(以前叫做国家意见研究中心)的团队有兴趣研究两个关于老龄化的国家数据库，看看这到底有多真实。

"Headlines have said there's been an uptick in loneliness, likely because research shows more people are not married, aren't civically or socially involved and are living alone," Hawkley said. "But our data found loneliness decreased from age 50 to about the mid-70s."

哈克利说:“新闻标题说，孤独感正在上升，这可能是因为研究表明，更多的人没有结婚，没有社会交往，独自生活。”“但我们的数据发现，从50岁到70岁左右，孤独感有所下降。”

At that point, however, prior studies show that resilience to loneliness begins to decline. Loneliness peaks as people age into their 80s and 90s, or what's called the "oldest-old."

然而，之前的研究表明，在那个时候，人们对孤独的适应力开始下降。随着人们步入八九十岁，也就是所谓的“最高龄”，孤独感会达到顶峰。

The baby boomer population in the United States was born between 1946 and 1964 and totals about 75 million people. The oldest boomers are currently 73, the age in which research shows levels of loneliness begin to rise.

美国婴儿潮时期出生的人口出生于1946年至1964年之间，总数约为7500万人。年龄最大的婴儿潮一代现在已经73岁了，研究表明，这个年龄的人的孤独感开始上升。

"That means the total number of older adults who are lonely may increase once the baby boomers reach their late 70s and 80s," Hawkley said.

“这意味着，一旦婴儿潮时期出生的人到了七八十岁，孤独的老年人总数可能会增加，” 哈克利说。

A sense of control is key

控制感是关键

A second study, based in the Netherlands, also found no current loneliness epidemic in a Dutch population aged 55 and older.

在荷兰进行的另一项研究也发现，目前荷兰55岁及以上的人群中并没有普遍存在孤独感。

Despite the fact that social communities such as churches, neighborhoods and extended families have declined in strength in recent decades, the study found Dutch adults in their 50s and 60s were actually less lonely than prior generations, although the decrease was small.

研究发现，尽管教堂、社区和大家庭等社会群体的力量在近几十年来有所减弱，但五六十岁的荷兰成年人实际上并不像前几代人那么孤独，尽管这种减弱幅度很小。

Dutch adults from later-born groups had better cognitive functioning and more diverse social networks than those born earlier. While that wasn't surprising, the study also found that a sense of control -- or mastery -- over one's life had a significant impact on how lonely a person felt.

荷兰出生较晚的成年人比出生较早的人有更好的认知功能和更多样化的社交网络。虽然这并不奇怪，但研究还发现，对生活的掌控感对一个人的孤独感有重要影响。

"Older adults today need to develop problem-solving and goal-setting skills to sustain satisfying relationships and to reduce loneliness," said lead author Bianca Suanet, an associate professor of sociology at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, in a statement.

研究报告的主要撰写者、阿姆斯特丹自由大学的社会学副教授比安卡•苏安内特在一份声明中说:“如今的老年人需要培养解决问题和设定目标的技能，以维持令人满意的人际关系，减少孤独感。”