Social and Emotional Loneliness in Older Community Dwelling-Individuals: The Role of Socio-Demographics

Vanessa Ibáñez-del Valle, Silvia Corchón (), Georgiana Zaharia and Omar Cauli
Additional contact information
Vanessa Ibáñez-del Valle: Frailty Research Organized Group (FROG), University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Silvia Corchón: Frailty Research Organized Group (FROG), University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Georgiana Zaharia: Department of Nursing, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Omar Cauli: Frailty Research Organized Group (FROG), University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: Background: Social determinants have a major influence on individuals’ health, and among them, loneliness has an important impact on the health of the elderly. Objectives: The aims were to determine loneliness and its social and emotional components in a sample of elderly people and to assess its prevalence and associations with sociodemographic variables. Methods: Analytical, cross-sectional, observational research was carried out based on a population over 60 years of age in Valencia (Spain). Loneliness was assessed with the De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Results: Five-hundred and thirty community-dwelling individuals participated. The mean age of the sample was 72.7 years (84.2% women); 36.2% suffered from moderate loneliness and 6.6% suffered from extreme loneliness. The sociodemographic variables most significantly related to loneliness were being single, separated, or divorced ( p < 0.01). Among widowers, loneliness was inversely associated with years of widowhood ( p < 0.01). Having sons/daughters was a significant protective factor ( p < 0.05), while having grandchildren or siblings did not have a significant influence. The ability to walk and smartphone and video call use were not associated with loneliness. Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of unwanted loneliness in community-dwelling individuals, and some social factors play an important role. Interventions against loneliness among older people are a priority for welfare and public health.

Keywords: loneliness; emotional loneliness; social loneliness; elderly; community dwelling-individuals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16622/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16622/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16622-:d:999900

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().