The relation between social network site usage and loneliness and mental health in community-dwelling older adults S. Aarts 1 , S. T. M. Peek 1,2 and E. J. M. Wouters 1 1 Fontys University of Applied Sciences, School for Allied Health Professions, Chair of Health Innovations and Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands 2 Tilburg University, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Tranzo, Netherlands Correspondence to: S. Aarts, PhD, E-mail: s.aarts@fontys.nl Background: Loneliness is expected to become an even bigger social problem in the upcoming decades, because of the growing number of older adults. It has been argued that the use of social network sites can aid in decreasing loneliness and improving mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how social network sites usage is related to loneliness and mental health in community- dwelling older adults. Method: The study population included community-dwelling older adults aged 60 and over residing in the Netherlands (n = 626) collected through the LISS panel (www.lissdata.nl). Univariate and multivar- iate linear regression analyses, adjusted for potentially important confounders, were conducted in order to investigate the relation between social network sites usage and (emotional and social) loneliness and mental health. Results: More than half of the individuals (56.2%) reported to use social network sites at least several times per week. Social network sites usage appeared unrelated to loneliness in general, and to emotional and social loneliness in particular. Social network sites usage also appeared unrelated to mental health. Several significant associations between related factors and the outcomes at hand were detected. Conclusion: In this sample, which was representative for the Dutch population, social network sites us- age was unrelated to loneliness and/or mental health. The results indicate that a simple association be- tween social network site usage and loneliness and mental health as such, cannot automatically be assumed in community-dwelling older adults. Copyright # 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: social network sites (SNS); social media; loneliness; mental health; older adults History: Received 10 February 2014; Accepted 4 November 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/gps.4241 Introduction In a recently conducted study among 2.6 million individuals aged 65 and over living in the Netherlands, al- most 800 000 consider themselves lonely (Ouderenfonds, 2014). It has been projected that by the year 2040, as much as 26% of the Dutch population will be aged 65 or older. Similar findings have been re- ported in almost all countries worldwide (UN, 2002). Loneliness is expected to become an even bigger social problem in the upcoming decades (Duin and van Stoeldraijer, 2012). Loneliness has been defined as an unpleasant sub- jective state of sensing a discrepancy between the desired amount of companionship or emotional sup- port and that which is available in the person’s envi- ronment (Perlman and Peplau, 1981). Researchers have found moderate to high correlations between loneliness and adverse health effects including depres- sion (Coyle and Dugan, 2012; Jaremka et al., 2014), cognitive problems (O’Luanaigh et al., 2012), and sui- cide (Pettigrew, 2007). More specifically, age-related losses such as loss of working sphere, physical mobility and the loss of loved ones can affect a person’s ability Copyright # 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2014 RESEARCH ARTICLE