Onset of loneliness in older adults: results of a 28 year prospective study
Marja Aartsen
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Marja Jylha
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M. Aartsen (&) VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences
, De Boelelaan, 1081 1081HV,
Amsterdam
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M. Aartsen M. Jylha School of Public Health, University of Tampere
, Tampere,
Finland
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Communicated by Hans-Werner Wahl
The goal of this research is to test whether often observed correlates of loneliness in older age are related to onset of loneliness longitudinally. Despite the increasing number of longitudinal studies, the investigation of factors that are related to onset of loneliness is still limited. Analyses are based on data of the TamELSA study, which is a population-based prospective study in Tampere, Finland and started in 1979. For the present study 469 older adults aged between 60 and 86 years at baseline, who were not lonely at baseline, were selected and followed-up in 1989, 1999 and 2006. During the 28 years of follow-up approximately one third (N = 178) of the study population developed feelings of loneliness. Logistic regression analyses indicated that losing a partner, reduced social activities, increased physical disabilities, increased feelings of low mood, uselessness and nervousness, rather than baseline characteristics, are related to enhanced feelings of loneliness at follow-up. The higher incidence of loneliness among women can be fully explained by the unequal distribution of risk factors among men and women (e.g., women more often become widowed). Our results are in line with the cognitive approach that conceptualizes loneliness as an unpleasant feeling due to a perceived discrepancy between the desired and the achieved level of social and personal resources.
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Images of aging often include loneliness as a key
characteristic of older age. However, the majority of scientific
studies in this field indicate that the prevalence of severe
loneliness (i.e., those who often feel lonely) among older
people is relatively low, ranging from 3% in Nordic
countries to approximately 30% in southern European
countries (Jylha and Jokela 1990). Yet, due to the adverse
health consequences such as increased depression
(Cacioppo et al. 2006) or increased likelihood of nursing home
admissions (Russell et al. 1997), loneliness is nevertheless
a relevant public health issue. Insight into factors that are
associated with an increased risk of becoming lonely may
reveal important information to our understanding of
loneliness and to the design of interventions to prevent or
reduce loneliness.
There is a growing body of knowledge about factors that
are associated with loneliness in older age such as living
alone (Wenger et al. 1996), quality of the relationship with
children (Long and Martin 2000), socio economic status
(Pinquart and Sorensen 2001), quality of the marriage (De
Jong Gierveld et al. 2009), self-efficacy (Fry and Debats
2002), personality (Solano et al. 1982; Newall et al. 2009),
cognition (Martin et al. 1997), self-perceived health (Kaasa
1998), and cultural norms and values (Jylha and Jokela
1990) (see for a meta analysis Pinquart and So rensen
2001). Also genetic factors have been found to increase the
risk of loneliness (Boomsma et al. 2005). Results on gender
differences in loneliness are still inconclusive, but as far as
they have been detected they are generally small (De Jong
Gierveld 1998, Dykstra and De Jong Gierveld 2004; Stokes
and Levin 1986), and may be the consequence of the
unequal distribution of risk factors across men and women
(Pinquart and Sorensen 2001; Victor et al. 2005). Previous
research thus revealed a wide range of factors, also referred
to as the personal and social resources of the individual (De
Jong Gierveld 1998).
Longitudinal studies on loneliness suggest that losing
social and personal resources, for example increasing
disability and decreasing social integration (Jylha 2004), and
the loss of a partner (Dykstra et al. 2005), lead to enhanced
levels of loneliness. The acknowledgement of the
importance of losing personal and social resources for the
individuals feelings of loneliness shows similarities with ideas
by Hobfoll (1989, 2001) who argues that social resources
are important for well-being. People therefore strife to
obtain and protect personal resources. Losing resources is
disproportionately more influential on level of well-being
than gaining resources (Hobfoll 2001).
The present study seeks to investigate the impact of
baseline levels of a wide range of social and personal
resources, and losses in these resources, on the onset of
loneliness in older age. In accord with previous ideas and
findings about loneliness we expect that negative changes
(or losses) in resources increase the risk of becoming
lonely at follow-up. Next to this, we will investigate to
what extent gender differences can be explained in terms of
a differential exposure to risk factors across men and
women. The selection of resources included in this study is
based on review studies by De Jong Gierveld (1998) and
Pinquart and (...truncated)