Loneliness and social support of older people living alone in a county of Shanghai, China

Abstract

China has an ageing population with the number of older people living alone increasing. Living alone may increase the risk of loneliness of older people, especially for those in China where collectivism and filial piety are emphasised. Social support may fill the need for social contacts, thereby alleviating loneliness. However, little is known about loneliness and social support of older people living alone in China. This study investigated loneliness and social support of older people living alone, by conducting a cross-sectional questionnaire survey with a stratified random cluster sample of 521 community-dwelling older people living alone in a county of Shanghai. Data were collected from November 2011 to March 2012. The instruments used included the UCLA Loneliness Scale version 3 and the Social Support Rate Scale. The participants reported a moderate level of loneliness. Their overall social support level was low compared with the Chinese norm. Children were the major source of objective and subjective support. Of the participants, 53.9% (n = 281) and 47.6% (n = 248) asked for help and confided when they were in trouble, but 84.1% (n = 438) never or rarely attended social activities. The level of loneliness and social support differed among the participants with different sociodemographic characteristics. There were negative correlations between loneliness and overall social support and its three dimensions. The findings suggest that there is a need to provide more social support to older people living alone to decrease their feelings of loneliness. Potential interventions include encouraging more frequent contacts from children, the development of one-to-one 'befriending' and group activity programmes together with identification of vulnerable subgroups.

Perceived loneliness and general cognitive status in community-dwelling older adults: the moderating influence of depression

“…Our study replicated previous findings that marital relationship plays a protective role against feelings of loneliness (Chen et al, 2014;Gow et al, 2013;Perissinotto, Stijacic Cenzer, & Covinsky, 2012). We found that married participants, including those remarried and cohabited, reported lower levels of perceived loneliness when compared with their non-married counterparts.…”

“…Third, we aimed to identify some demographic correlates of loneliness such that the information would be useful for health care professionals or policy makers to address the issue of loneliness in older adults. Previous studies suggest that being female, unmarried, having lower levels of education and living alone were associated with higher levels of loneliness (Chen, Hicks, & While, 2014). The degree to which these demographic variables correlated with loneliness in community-dwelling older adults would be examined in the current study.…”

Living Alone in Later Life: A Global Perspective

“…; Kravdal ; Steptoe et al. ; Umberson and Montez ); to the fact that living alone tends to reduce satisfaction with life and the perceived quality of life in old age (Jakobsson, Hallberg, and Westergren , Gaymou and Springer 2012); and the fact that living alone lowers levels of social and familial support at older ages (Thompson and Krause , Chen, Hicks, and While ). Little is known about the effects of living arrangements on health outcomes, although poorer health and higher death rates can be expected from older people living alone (Koskinen et al.…”

Loneliness among older people living in care homes in Sri Lanka

“…Loneliness has been shown to be influenced by socio‐demographic characteristics such as gender, household income, household living arrangements and health status (Pikhartova, Bowling, & Victor, ). Chen, Hicks, and While () and Hazer and Boylu () emphasised that people of advanced age who have a lower level of education, have a lower economic status and live in a rural area are at higher risk of loneliness and should therefore be given a higher priority for preventive interventions.…”