Onset of loneliness in older adults: results of a 28 year prospective study

European Journal of Ageing, Mar 2011

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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Onset of loneliness in older adults: results of a 28 year prospective study

Marja Aartsen 0 1 2 Marja Jylha 0 1 2 0 M. Aartsen (&) VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences , De Boelelaan, 1081 1081HV, Amsterdam 1 M. Aartsen M. Jylha School of Public Health, University of Tampere , Tampere, Finland 2 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. - 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)


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Marja Aartsen, Marja Jylhä. Onset of loneliness in older adults: results of a 28 year prospective study, European Journal of Ageing, 2011, pp. 31-38, Volume 8, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1007/s10433-011-0175-7