|
Top headlines
Lead story
The midlife years – generally ages 40 to 65 – bring with them a plethora of challenges, from the health effects of aging and the financial stressors of trying to make ends meet to raising kids and caring for older family members in a time of unprecedented mental health concerns. Now, new research is documenting what many of us have been experiencing firsthand: Middle-aged Americans are lonelier than similar-aged people in countries of similar wealth, such as England and in Mediterranean Europe.
But loneliness isn’t simply an unsatisfactory condition or state of mind: Research shows that loneliness is bad for our health, with effects comparable to the dangers of smoking, explains Frank J. Infurna, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University. The U.S. surgeon general brought wider attention to the epidemic of loneliness and its related health effects in a 2023 report.
“The desire to belong is an innate and fundamental need,” Infurna writes. “When this is lacking, it can have downstream consequences.”
More research is needed to understand what factors are behind this trend, Infurna writes, but the high psychological cost of our individualist society and limited social safety nets in the U.S. are likely major drivers of middle-aged Americans’ loneliness.
[ How faith and religion drive the world. Sign up for our weekly newsletter, This Week in Religion. ]
|
|
Amanda Mascarelli
Senior Health and Medicine Editor
|
|
The desire to belong is a fundamental human need.
Oliver Rossi/Stone via Getty Images
Frank J. Infurna, Arizona State University
The need to connect is fundamental. But diminishing social ties and community support are contributing to the loneliness epidemic.
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Tatishe Nteta, UMass Amherst; Adam Eichen, UMass Amherst; Douglas Rice, UMass Amherst; Jesse Rhodes, UMass Amherst; Justin H. Gross, UMass Amherst
There’s a backlash against programs that aim to reverse the effects of systemic racism in the US. A survey indicates that racism is behind that backlash.
-
John E. Jones III, Dickinson College
What counts as fast for a court is slow for the rest of the world, and judges can give contradictory or vague rulings that delay final decisions into the future.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Victor Matheson, College of the Holy Cross
It turns out that handing over taxpayer dollars to billionaire owners tends to be far less popular among regular citizens than among well-connected government officials.
|
|
Education
|
-
Gabriel E. Hales, Michigan State University; Keith N. Hampton, Michigan State University
While the COVID-19 pandemic spurred significant progress in expanding rural home internet access, these gains are proving temporary as resources dwindle.
|
|
Economy + Business
|
-
Katie Suleta, George Washington University
‘Natural’ isn’t the same thing as healthful. You can have too much of a good thing, and taking action can be worse than doing nothing.
|
|
International
|
-
Anneliese M. Schenk-Day, The Ohio State University
Rwanda is touted as one of the leading nations when it comes to strides toward gender equality. But the role of female ‘rescuers’ in the 1994 genocide is being downplayed.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Kimberly Rosvall, Indiana University; Liz Aguilar, Indiana University
Since an eclipse only lasts a few minutes, you need more than just a handful of scientists running around collecting data on bird activity. That’s where a new app comes in.
-
Wesley Chang, Drexel University
The reason batteries come in so many types has as much to do with history as innovation.
-
John Kounios, Drexel University; Yvette Kounios, Widener University
Neuroscientists analyzed the brain waves of 32 jazz guitarists as they improvised to chords and rhythms. Their findings suggest 2 key principles support innovative thinking.
|
|
Ethics + Religion
|
-
Virginia Raguin, College of the Holy Cross
A stained-glass window, which shows Jesus as a Black man for the first time, tells a story not only of race but of gender, class and ethnicity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|---|
-
More of The ConversationLike this newsletter? You might be interested in our weekly and biweekly emails: Follow us on social media: -
About The ConversationWe're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to helping academic experts share ideas with the public. We can give away our articles thanks to the help of foundations, universities and readers like you. |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
