IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p9246-d874362.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Association between Loneliness and Depression among Community-Dwelling Older Women Living Alone in South Korea: The Mediating Effects of Subjective Physical Health, Resilience, and Social Support

Author

Listed:
  • Young Mi Lim

    (Department of Nursing, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju 26426, Korea)

  • Juha Baek

    (Department of Health Care Policy Research, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Sejong-si 30146, Korea)

  • Sungmin Lee

    (Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840, USA)

  • Jung Sug Kim

    (Department of Nursing, Yeoju Institute of Technology, Yeoju 12652, Korea)

Abstract

Social isolation and loneliness are the key risk factors for depression in late life. Older adults living alone and socially isolated are at greater risk for physical and mental health. This study aims to examine the mediating effects of subjective physical health, resilience, and social support on the association between loneliness and depression among the elderly female population living alone in South Korea. We included a total of 308 older women aged 60 years or older who live alone in a medium-sized city in South Korea. The survey data was collected using the validated survey instruments between November 2015 and April 2016. A parallel mediation model was performed to investigate whether physical health, resilience, and social support had mediating effects on the association of loneliness with depression. The findings of this study showed that loneliness was directly and indirectly associated with depression through its association with the subjective physical health, resilience, and social support among the older female population living alone. Our results suggest the importance of supporting community-based programs to improve physical and mental health of the elderly people as a way to minimize the level of loneliness and prevent depression.

Suggested Citation

  • Young Mi Lim & Juha Baek & Sungmin Lee & Jung Sug Kim, 2022. "Association between Loneliness and Depression among Community-Dwelling Older Women Living Alone in South Korea: The Mediating Effects of Subjective Physical Health, Resilience, and Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-13, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9246-:d:874362
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9246/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9246/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haewon Byeon, 2019. "Relationship between Physical Activity Level and Depression of Elderly People Living Alone," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-10, October.
    2. Gerst-Emerson, K. & Jayawardhana, J., 2015. "Loneliness as a public health issue: The impact of loneliness on health care utilization among older adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(5), pages 1013-1019.
    3. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dominik Borawski, 2022. "The Mediating Role of Positive Orientation in the Relationship between Loneliness and Meaning in Life," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-8, August.
    2. Qinqin Jiang & Zhe Zhao & Yijun Liu & Zhenbang Wei & Yan Bing & Feng Zhang & Jiahao Liu & Lei Gao & Jinhai Sun & Lei Yuan, 2024. "Decomposition analysis of the difference in depressive symptoms between urban and rural employed people in China: Unpaid work plays an important role," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(2), pages 340-354, March.
    3. John Rodwell, 2022. "Health Need Factors Are the Key Drivers of Hospitalization among the Elderly Living Alone: An Analysis of Longitudinal Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-12, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. S. Arunachalam & Sridhar N. Ramaswami & Pol Herrmann & Doug Walker, 2018. "Innovation pathway to profitability: the role of entrepreneurial orientation and marketing capabilities," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 744-766, July.
    2. Bilgihan, Anil & Madanoglu, Melih & Ricci, Peter, 2016. "Service attributes as drivers of behavioral loyalty in casinos: The mediating effect of attitudinal loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 14-21.
    3. Kareklas, Ioannis & Muehling, Darrel D. & King, Skyler, 2019. "The effect of color and self-view priming in persuasive communications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 33-49.
    4. Ashish Arora & Michelle Gittelman & Sarah Kaplan & John Lynch & Will Mitchell & Nicolaj Siggelkow & Aaron K. Chatterji & Michael Findley & Nathan M. Jensen & Stephan Meier & Daniel Nielson, 2016. "Field experiments in strategy research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 116-132, January.
    5. Yi Yong Lee & Chin Lay Gan & Tze Wei Liew, 2023. "Thwarting Instant Messaging Phishing Attacks: The Role of Self-Efficacy and the Mediating Effect of Attitude towards Online Sharing of Personal Information," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-23, February.
    6. FeCheng Ma & Farhan Khan & Kashif Ullah Khan & Si XiangYun, 2021. "Investigating the Impact of Information Technology, Absorptive Capacity, and Dynamic Capabilities on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    7. Mbassi, Christophe Martial & Messono, Omang Ombolo, 2023. "Historical technology and current economic development: Reassessing the nature of the relationship," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    8. Nosheena Yasir & Nasir Mahmood & Hafiz Shakir Mehmood & Osama Rashid & An Liren, 2021. "The Integrated Role of Personal Values and Theory of Planned Behavior to Form a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    9. Jianzhuang Zheng & Muhammad Usman Khurram & Lifeng Chen, 2022. "Can Green Innovation Affect ESG Ratings and Financial Performance? Evidence from Chinese GEM Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-32, July.
    10. Mia M. Vainio & Daiva Daukantaitė, 2016. "Grit and Different Aspects of Well-Being: Direct and Indirect Relationships via Sense of Coherence and Authenticity," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 2119-2147, October.
    11. Christian W. Scheiner & Christian V. Baccarella & John Bessant & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2018. "Participation Motives, Moral Disengagement, And Unethical Behaviour In Idea Competitions," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(06), pages 1-24, August.
    12. Yu Ding & Wayne S. DeSarbo & Dominique M. Hanssens & Kamel Jedidi & John G. Lynch & Donald R. Lehmann, 2020. "The past, present, and future of measurement and methods in marketing analysis," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 175-186, September.
    13. G. Rejikumar & Aswathy Asokan-Ajitha & Sofi Dinesh & Ajay Jose, 2022. "The role of cognitive complexity and risk aversion in online herd behavior," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 585-621, June.
    14. Lefroy, Kathryn & Tsarenko, Yelena, 2014. "Dependence and effectiveness in the nonprofit-corporate alliance: The mediating effect of objectives achievement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1959-1966.
    15. Ah Jung Kim & Myung-Ho Chung, 2023. "Psychological Ownership and Ambivalent Employee Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Model," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    16. Ashwin W. Joshi, 2017. "OEM implementation of supplier-developed component innovations: the role of supplier actions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 548-568, July.
    17. Thuy-Van Tran & Sinikka Lepistö & Janne Järvinen, 2021. "The relationship between subjectivity in managerial performance evaluation and the three dimensions of justice perception," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 369-399, September.
    18. Jingsi Zhang & Liangqun Qi, 2021. "Crisis Preparedness of Healthcare Manufacturing Firms during the COVID-19 Outbreak: Digitalization and Servitization," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-23, May.
    19. Anxin Xu & Chenwen Wei & Manhua Zheng & Lili Sun & Decong Tang, 2022. "Influence of Perceived Value on Repurchase Intention of Green Agricultural Products: From the Perspective of Multi-Group Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    20. Carter, Kealy & Jayachandran, Satish & Murdock, Mitchel R., 2021. "Building A Sustainable Shelf: The Role of Firm Sustainability Reputation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 507-522.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9246-:d:874362. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.