Exploring the relationship between loneliness and subjective accelerated aging among older adults: A moderated mediation model of meaning in life and self-efficacy.

Older adults may be vulnerable to the adverse effects of loneliness on self-perceptions of aging processes during stressful life events, specifically subjective accelerated aging. The study aimed to explore the relationship between loneliness and subjective accelerated aging among older adults during the Israel–Hamas war and, moreover, whether protective factors of meaning in life and self-efficacy mediated and moderated this relationship. The sample included 589 older Israeli adults (M = 72.31, SD = 6.26). Data were collected during the first months of the Israel–Hamas war. Participant recruitment included online platforms and research assistants who actively allocated participants. Participants completed questionnaires of demographic characteristics, loneliness, meaning in life, self-efficacy, and subjective accelerated aging. Results showed a positive direct association between loneliness and subjective accelerated aging. The moderated mediation model showed that meaning in life mediated this relationship. Self-efficacy moderated the association between loneliness and meaning in life, but not between loneliness and subjective accelerated aging or meaning in life and subjective accelerated aging. The results highlight the detrimental effects of loneliness on older adults’ self-perceptions of their aging process during war and terror. Interventions aimed at enhancing meaning in life should be tailored for older adults, particularly given the mediating role of meaning in life in reducing the impact of loneliness on subjective accelerated aging. The moderating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between loneliness and meaning in life highlights the importance of fostering a sense of self-efficacy among older adults to further buffer the self-perceptions of accelerated aging.