Growing old and lonely in different societies: Toward a comparative perspective

Johnson, Doyle Paul; Mullins, Larry C.

doi:10.1007/bf00160684

Cited by 68 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…Several authors point to the importance of considering people's frames of reference and normative orientations in the cultural context of countries under investigation (Jylha and Jokela 1990;Johnson and Mullins 1987). Loneliness occurs when the quality of one's social relationships falls short of the expected or desired quality of social relationships.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such cultures may prevent loneliness by promoting social integration. However, as others have noted (Johnson and Mullins 1987;Jylha and Jokela 1990), the high expectations of strong ties may increase feelings of loneliness if these expectations are not met. Placing a T. Hansen, B high value on close family ties may thus make matters worse for seniors in countries with high rates of widowhood, decreasing fertility rates, and increasing out-migration (see ''Appendix'').…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Late-Life Loneliness in 11 European Countries: Results from the Generations and Gender Survey

2015

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This study explores country differences in late-life loneliness in Europe among men and women and establishes the role of micro-level differences in socioeconomic status, health, and social variables in these patterns. We use cross-sectional, nationally representative data from the Generations and Gender Survey. The analysis comprises 33,832 Europeans aged 60-80 from 11 countries. A six-item short version of the de JongGierveld Scale is used to measure loneliness, yet we employ a different method of calculating loneliness scores than in prior work. Findings show considerable between-country heterogeneity in late-life loneliness, especially among women. The rate of a quite severe level of loneliness is 30-55 % among men and women in Eastern Europe, compared with 10-20 % among their peers in Western and Northern Europe. Loneliness is strongly associated with lower socioeconomic status, poorer health, and not having a partner. More than half of the country variance in loneliness is mediated by health, partnership status, and socioeconomic disparities across countries. Differences in societal wealth and welfare and cultural norms may account for some of the unexplained country variance in loneliness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Late-Life Loneliness in 11 European Countries: Results from the Generations and Gender Survey

2015

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“…The relationship between childlessness and psychological well-being and life satisfaction may differ in contexts with a variety of cultural value orientations (Cheung and Leung 2004;Ji et al 2002;Johnson and Mullins 1987). For example, dominated by the pronatalist Confucian culture, Chinese society stresses the value of children in the lives of their elderly parents in terms of filial piety (Ikels 2004;Sung 1998).…”

Section: Previous Studies and Present Research Questionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Childlessness, Psychological Well-being, and Life Satisfaction Among the Elderly in China

Zhang

Liu

2007

J Cross Cult Gerontol

115

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This paper examines the effects of childlessness on the well-being of persons aged 65 and above in China. It is based on an application of ordered-logit regression in the analysis of the data from the 2002 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) conducted in 22 provinces of China (N = 13,447). It compares parents with the childless elderly, focusing on three dimensions of psychological well-being, namely feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and uselessness, and on life satisfaction. The findings include the following. First, with control of social demographic variables of age, gender and education, childlessness is significantly associated with life satisfaction, feeling of anxiety and loneliness, but not feeling of uselessness. The childless elderly are less satisfied with their lives and feel more anxious and lonely than do parents, but they do not necessarily feel significantly more useless. Second, when controlled with social-demographic variables and additional socioeconomic variables of residence, living arrangement, availability of pension and medical services, childlessness is no longer significantly related to anxiety and loneliness, and it is related at only a marginally-significant level to life satisfaction. Third, individual education, place of residence, living arrangements, economic security and access to medical services are consistently related to life satisfaction and psychological well-being among the elderly. We conclude that providing social investments in education in early life and economic security and medical insurance in later life for both the childless and parents are crucial for improving individual psychological well-being and life satisfaction for the elderly.

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“…Research has shown that the prevalence of loneliness varies between cultural groups (Johnson and Mullins 1987). Within Europe, reported levels of loneliness are highest in the countries of the former Soviet Union at around 25-30% and lowest in the countries of Northern Europe, rates of about 10% with the southern European countries occupying an intermediate position reporting rates of 15-20% (Yang and Victor 2011;Sundström et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Loneliness and Ethnic Minority Elders in Great Britain: An Exploratory Study

Victor

Burholt

Martin

2012

J Cross Cult Gerontol

138

118

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Loneliness, which describes the deficit between an individuals' expectation of the quality and/or quantity of social relationships and the actuality, is associated with poor quality of life, negative health outcomes and, in some cases, increased use of statutory services. Within Great Britain few studies have examined the prevalence of loneliness amongst older people from ethnic minorities. In this exploratory study we consider the prevalence of loneliness amongst older people, those aged 65 years and over, from the key minority groups growing old in Britain (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, African Caribbean, and Chinese) and draw explicit comparisons for these groups with the prevalence of loneliness reported for the general population and with older people in their countries of origin. We use two data sources: the Ethnicity and Loneliness Survey, a study of 300 minority elders aged 65+ living in the community, provides our prevalence estimates and secondary analysis of a study of 169 South Asian elders (aged 65+) undertaken in Birmingham to validate our prevalence rates for the Indian and Bangladeshi populations. We identified very high rates of reported loneliness, ranging from 24% to 50% amongst for those elders originating from China, Africa, the Caribbean, Pakistan and Bangladesh whilst those from India approximated to the norms of 8-10% for Britain. These results suggest that it is feasible to research loneliness amongst minority communities in Britain; that the levels of loneliness are, with the exception of the Indian population, very much higher than for the general population but are broadly comparable with rates of loneliness reported for older people in their countries of origin. There is a rich research agenda to be developed in extending our understanding of loneliness in later life amongst the increasingly culturally and ethnically diverse older population of Great Britain.

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Growing old and lonely in different societies: Toward a comparative perspective

Cited by 68 publications

References 17 publications

Late-Life Loneliness in 11 European Countries: Results from the Generations and Gender Survey

Late-Life Loneliness in 11 European Countries: Results from the Generations and Gender Survey

Childlessness, Psychological Well-being, and Life Satisfaction Among the Elderly in China

Loneliness and Ethnic Minority Elders in Great Britain: An Exploratory Study

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