Is Living Alone “Aging Alone”? Solitary Living, Network Types, and Well-Being

Abstract

Objectives When identifying older adults who may be at risk of being without necessary supports, policy makers and scholars tend to focus on those living alone, neglecting differences within that group. We examine how their social networks contribute to subjective well-being, why some of them fare better and compare their well-being to older adults coresiding with others. Method Data are from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe (N = 53,383). A network typology for older people living alone (N = 10,047) is constructed using a latent class analysis. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, we examined differences in subjective well-being (life satisfaction, satisfaction with social network, depression) by network type, adding adults coresiding with others (N = 43,336) as comparison group. Results We find four social network types among older adults living alone. The likelihood of having “restricted” and “child-based” networks is greater in Eastern and Southern European countries, whereas the likelihood of having “friend-oriented” networks is greater in Western and Northern European countries. Across countries, only those with “restricted” networks tend to have the poorest well-being. Those with “diverse” networks have even better well-being than coresiding older adults. Discussion Our study shows the importance of drawing distinctions within the group of older adults living alone. Most (two thirds) are not vulnerable and at risk, but fare just as well or even better than peers who coreside with others. Country-level factors shape the opportunities to build satisfactory networks, but subjective well-being depends more strongly on individual resources, including social networks, than country-level factors.

Social support networks and loneliness of Polish migrants in the Netherlands

“…Five distinct network types emerged from the latent class analyses. The restricted 'no confidants' type is associated with loneliness in this study, and moreover has likeness to the 'detached' type found by Karpinska and Dykstra (2018), and it is similar to the 'restricted' types found in other studies where Poles were also included (Djundeva, Dykstra, and Fokkema 2018;Litwin and Stoeckel 2013). The typical 'diverse' social network type (similar to the diverse type in Fiori, Smith, and Antonucci 2007) in this study was characterised by a large non-homogeneous network with kin and non-kin support, and somewhat less by transnational ties.…”

“…In doing so, we built on previous network type studies that have used only size, and friend vs. family distinctions. 'Diverse', 'family-focused', 'friend-focused', and 'restricted' network types have previously been discussed in the non-migration oriented literature (Djundeva, Dykstra, and Fokkema 2018;Litwin and Shiovitz-Ezra 2010) but to our knowledge this is among the first studies to employ social network types investigating migrant support networks. Next to dimensions identified in previous research (e.g.…”

“…This class also has the lowest likelihood of transnational ties (0.69) compared to the other classes. We label this class as 'no confidants' (later we also refer to is as 'restricted') given its resemblance to a type reported elsewhere (Djundeva, Dykstra, and Fokkema 2018;Fiori, Smith, and Antonucci 2007;Litwin and Shiovitz-Ezra 2010). This type is not the most frequent, but also not the least frequent -17.9% of all respondents can be classified as having no confidants.…”

Living alone vs. living with someone as a predictor of mortality after a bone fracture in older age

“…A potential explanation for these Table 4 Main effects and interactions of living arrangements and fracture state (the first post-fracture year) on the mortality risk stratified by sex mixed findings is that old people who live alone do not form a uniform group but consist of both socially isolated and socially integrated persons. In fact, in many modern societies older adults who live alone often have large and diverse social networks [35]. Therefore, living alone does not necessarily indicate social isolation and/or loneliness, both of which are important psychosocial mechanisms influencing health [1].…”

Association of Family Type with Happiness Attributes Among Older Adults

“…Studies have examined concepts similar to happiness, including well-being [7], quality of life [9,12,13,14], life satisfaction [6,15,16], subjective well-being [17], good life, and better life [5,18].…”