Abstract
BackgroundLiving alone has become more common in today’s societies. Despite the high number of the population living alone, research directed towards the mental wellbeing issues related to living alone has been limited. This systematic literature review aimed to assess the association between living alone and positive mental health.MethodsWe conducted searches in Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and other complementary databases from January 1998 to May 2019. Randomised trials and observational studies investigating adults over 18 years of age and living alone (defined as living in a single household or a household size of one person) were eligible. The primary outcome was positive mental health, defined as comprising both hedonic and eudaimonic elements of mental wellbeing, and it was measured with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and/or theWHO-5 Index. Two reviewers independently screened and selected data; one reviewer extracted data, and the second checked the extracted data. A narrative synthesis described the quality and content of the evidence. Included studies were appraised using relevant Joanna Briggs Institute checklist.ResultsA total of 4 cross-sectional studies (22,591 adult participants) were included after screening of 341 titles and abstracts and 46 full-text articles. These studies were conducted in Europe and were published between 2014 and 2017. The studies differed in their measurements of positive mental health (WHO-5 Well-Being Index, 3 studies; WEMWBS, 1 study), sources of data (1 regional, 1 national, and 2 European-level studies), and study populations (regional study, adults over 65 years of age; national-level study, mental health nurses over 21 years of age; European-level studies, employees between 15 and 65 years of age and adults over 18 years of age). A potential association between living alone and low positive mental health was found in three out of the four studies. Our findings were limited as the number of included studies was low and the quality of evidence varied across studies.ConclusionsThis review allows a limited look at the association between living alone and positive mental health. Because the number of included studies was low and the quality of evidence varied across studies, further research is warranted.
Highlights
IntroductionDespite the high number of the population living alone, research directed towards the mental wellbeing issues related to living alone has been limited
Living alone has become more common in today’s societies
One study used the European Social Survey (ESS) as the data source for their study [32], one used the dataset from the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) [33], one from the KORA-Age study (KORA stands for Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) [34], and one study carried out their own survey [35]
Summary
Despite the high number of the population living alone, research directed towards the mental wellbeing issues related to living alone has been limited. This systematic literature review aimed to assess the association between living alone and positive mental health. Official marital status no longer necessary reflects an individual’s living arrangements as single, divorced, and widowed persons may live alone or with other people such as a partner, children, parents, or other unrelated persons. People living alone may be at Tamminen et al Systematic Reviews (2019) 8:134 very different life stages depending on their age, gender, education, and work status. As Jamieson et al stated [2] ‘The essence of living alone is simple: nobody else lives in the same living space or routinely shares everyday domestic life’ (p. 5)
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