IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i17p9398-d629963.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Loneliness in Old Age, the Related Factors, and Its Association with Demographics and Districts of Residence

Author

Listed:
  • Susan Ka Yee Chow

    (School of Nursing, Tung Wah College, Hong Kong)

  • Florence M. F. Wong

    (School of Nursing, Tung Wah College, Hong Kong)

  • Edward Kwok Yiu Choi

    (Department of Anaesthesiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

Abstract

Loneliness among older people has now become a serious public health issue. There have been few previous studies conducted among Chinese populations on the correlations between loneliness, self-rated health, and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and their association with demographic characteristics. In this study, data were collected using quota sampling through survey interviews. Older people living in representative districts were recruited. Of the participants, 60.1% rated their health as average and 58.1% showed a high level of loneliness. IADL and self-rated health (SRH) were found to be moderately positively correlated, with r = 0.357, p < 0.001. A low negative correlation was found between the level of loneliness and IADL, with r = −0.276; and SRH, with r = −0.288, p < 0.05. Ordinal Regression results showed that subjects with higher IADL scores (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.39–1.05) were less lonely, while those with a less desirable economic status (OR: 3.34, 95% CI: 1.40–7.96) and living in the central business district were more likely to have a higher loneliness score (OR: 21.33, 95% CI: 4.81–95.41). It is essential to screen for loneliness, and interventions should be focused on improving social connections and support for older people to overcome their feelings of loneliness.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Ka Yee Chow & Florence M. F. Wong & Edward Kwok Yiu Choi, 2021. "Loneliness in Old Age, the Related Factors, and Its Association with Demographics and Districts of Residence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:17:p:9398-:d:629963
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9398/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9398/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ye Luo & Linda J. Waite, 2014. "Loneliness and Mortality Among Older Adults in China," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(4), pages 633-645.
    2. Hui-Chuan Hsu, 2020. "Typologies of Loneliness, Isolation and Living Alone Are Associated with Psychological Well-Being among Older Adults in Taipei: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Louise C. Hawkley & Mary Elizabeth Hughes & Linda J. Waite & Christopher M. Masi & Ronald A. Thisted & John T. Cacioppo, 2008. "From Social Structural Factors to Perceptions of Relationship Quality and Loneliness: The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 63(6), pages 375-384.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lijuan Zhao & Lin Wu, 2022. "The Association between Social Participation and Loneliness of the Chinese Older Adults over Time—The Mediating Effect of Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Jenny Gierveld & Pearl A. Dykstra & Niels Schenk, 2012. "Living arrangements, intergenerational support types and older adult loneliness in Eastern and Western Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(7), pages 167-200.
    3. Vanessa Ibáñez-del Valle & Silvia Corchón & Georgiana Zaharia & Omar Cauli, 2022. "Social and Emotional Loneliness in Older Community Dwelling-Individuals: The Role of Socio-Demographics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Louise C Hawkley & Yuanyuan Gu & Yue-Jia Luo & John T Cacioppo, 2012. "The Mental Representation of Social Connections: Generalizability Extended to Beijing Adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-11, September.
    5. Chin-Chen Liu & Yi-Tung Lin & Kung-Chuan Cheng & Hsueh-Hsing Pan & Chou-Ping Chiou, 2022. "Predictors of Depression Level among Community-Dwelling Elderly Persons," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-9, August.
    6. Patterson, Andrew C. & Veenstra, Gerry, 2010. "Loneliness and risk of mortality: A longitudinal investigation in Alameda County, California," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 181-186, July.
    7. Zheng Xie & Adrienne N Poon & Zhijun Wu & Weiyan Jian & Kit Yee Chan, 2015. "Is Occupation a Good Predictor of Self-Rated Health in China?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Luo, Ye & Hawkley, Louise C. & Waite, Linda J. & Cacioppo, John T., 2012. "Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: A national longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 907-914.
    9. Federico Comes & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2022. "Socio-economic and psychological consequences of the Pandemic for the Great Elderly in Italy: How much is it worth investing in relationship as a factor preventing lonelines," Working Papers 12, SITES.
    10. Puxiang Ren & Jakob Emiliussen & Regina Christiansen & Søren Engelsen & Søren Harnow Klausen, 2022. "Filial Piety, Generativity and Older Adults’ Wellbeing and Loneliness in Denmark and China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 3069-3090, October.
    11. Sarah Gibney & Mark E. McGovern & Erika Sabbath, 2013. "Social Relationships in Later Life: The Role of Childhood Circumstances," Working Papers 201319, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    12. Pauline Van den Berg & Astrid Kemperman & Boy De Kleijn & Aloys Borgers, 2015. "Locations that Support Social Activity Participation of the Aging Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, August.
    13. Morrish, N. & Medina-Lara, A., 2021. "Does unemployment lead to greater levels of loneliness? A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    14. Thomas Hansen & Britt Slagsvold, 2016. "Late-Life Loneliness in 11 European Countries: Results from the Generations and Gender Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 445-464, October.
    15. Avi Bitzur & Eran Fisher, 2018. ""It Is Not Good For Man To Be Alone" The Struggle against Loneliness in Old Age: Basic Assumptions for an Integrative Operational Concept –The Israeli Case," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(1), pages 82-106, January.
    16. Natasja Schutter & Tjalling J. Holwerda & Hannie C. Comijs & Max L. Stek & Jaap Peen & Jack J. M. Dekker, 2022. "Loneliness, social network size and mortality in older adults: a meta-analysis," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1057-1076, December.
    17. Celia Fernández-Carro & Jordi Gumà Lao, 2022. "A Life-Course Approach to the Relationship Between Education, Family Trajectory and Late-Life Loneliness Among Older Women in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1345-1363, August.
    18. Christiansen, Julie & Larsen, Finn Breinholt & Lasgaard, Mathias, 2016. "Do stress, health behavior, and sleep mediate the association between loneliness and adverse health conditions among older people?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 80-86.
    19. Ruxandra Oana Ciobanu & Tineke Fokkema, 2021. "What protects older Romanians in Switzerland from loneliness? A life-course perspective," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 323-331, September.
    20. Jiao Zhang & Lingzhong Xu & Jiajia Li & Long Sun & Gan Ding & Wenzhe Qin & Qian Wang & Jing Zhu & Zihang Yu & Su Xie, 2018. "Loneliness and Health Service Utilization among the Rural Elderly in Shandong, China: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-11, July.

    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:18:y:2021:i:17:p:9398-:d:629963. 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.