Living alone, social support, and feeling lonely among the elderly

By S. Yeh, S. Lo. 2004

189 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study aimed to describe the characteristics of the elderly population living alone, and to examine how living alone relates to feeling lonely. Interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of 4,859 elderly individuals living in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Variables collected included demographic information, living alone or not, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ), chronic conditions, perceived social support, and a subjective measure of feeling lonely. Using logistic regression, it was found that factors associated with living alone included gender, marital status, occupation, source of income, religion, and IADL. Living alone was, in turn, related to decreased levels of both perceived social support and feeling lonely after adjustment for potential confounders. Managing retired life is important for adult elders, particularly for men. Lack of social support is common among the elderly community who live alone, which could well be a main reason for this group to feel lonely. As loneliness is linked to physical and mental health problems, increasing social support and facilitating friendship should be factored into life-style management for communities of elderly.

Subfields: Health, Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b5f92771d04b63977668ef172e944a276a3de49e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Health

1. David Russell
2. C. Coyle
3. E. Dugan
4. E. Greenfield
5. Emilie Courtin
6. Martin Knapp

In Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology

1. David Russell
2. C. Coyle
3. E. Dugan
4. E. Greenfield

In Social Psychology

1. C. Coyle
2. E. Dugan

Citations in the corpus

• Identifying Living Arrangements That Heighten Risk for Loneliness in Later Life (2011, background): “Previous studies have identified living alone to be one of the most consistent predictors of loneliness among older adults (Victor, Scambler, Bond, & Bowling, 2000; Yeh & Lo, 2004).”
• Social Isolation, Loneliness and Health Among Older Adults (2012, background): “Individuals who live alone, have a small social network and infrequent participation in social activities have a higher risk of social isolation and feelings of loneliness (Yeh & Lo, 2004).”