Abstract
BackgroundLoneliness is a public health concern with serious health consequences in older adults. Despite a large body of research on the correlates of loneliness, little is known about the age group differences in the correlates. Given that the older adult population is heterogeneous, this study aims to examine the correlates of loneliness in older adults in Shanghai, and to explore how the correlates vary across different age groups.MethodsWe used the Shanghai Urban Neighborhood Survey (SUNS) which was conducted in 2016 and 2017. The total sample size of older adults included in the analysis was 2770. Loneliness was measured using the sum of the 6 items derived from the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Correlates include demographic variables, health conditions, social factors, and new media use. Regression analysis was used to examine the correlates of loneliness first in the whole sample, and then in the young old (60–79 years old) and the old old (80+ years old) separately.ResultsThe mean of loneliness score was 18.48 (SD = 5.77). The old old reported a higher level of loneliness than the young old. Variables, including age, living arrangement, marital status, education, health, family functioning, volunteering, square dancing, and new media use were found to be significant in the whole sample. Most of the significant correlates observed in the young old were identical to the findings reported for the total sample, with an exception for living arrangement. Self-rated health (SRH) and family functioning were two important correlates for the old old.ConclusionsCorrelates of loneliness vary for the young old and the old old. The older adults at higher risk of loneliness deserve more attention and concern. Future interventions should be tailored to the young old and the old old to better help older adults alleviate loneliness and enhance their well-being.
Highlights
Loneliness is a public health concern with serious health consequences in older adults
Jopp et al supported age-differential correlates of valuation of life, such that health factors was especially stronger for the young old than for the old old [46]. These findings demonstrated that the correlates of loneliness might operate differently for the young old and the old old
We compared the differences of the key variables in the young old and in the old old (Table 1)
Summary
Loneliness is a public health concern with serious health consequences in older adults. Despite a large body of research on the correlates of loneliness, little is known about the age group differences in the correlates. Given that the older adult population is heterogeneous, this study aims to examine the correlates of loneliness in older adults in Shanghai, and to explore how the correlates vary across different age groups. Loneliness in older adults is a public health issue nowadays and deserves an increasing concern due to its negative effects in older adult population. The current study aims to examine the correlates of loneliness in the Despite a sizeable literature on loneliness in Western societies, much less is known about loneliness in older adults in China, a country where family system and collectivism are greatly emphasized and one where dramatic socio- and demographic- changes have taken place in the past 40 years [9]. Yum argued that loneliness is more about personal romantic expectations in some individualistic cultures, but is more related to social
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