Hostname: page-component-546b4f848f-hhr79 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2023-06-05T03:42:16.263Z Has data issue: false Feature Flags: { "useRatesEcommerce": true } hasContentIssue false
  • English

Correlates and predictors of loneliness in older-adults: a review of quantitative results informed by qualitative insights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2015

Jiska Cohen-Mansfield ,
Haim Hazan ,
Yaffa Lerman  and
Vera Shalom
Jiska Cohen-Mansfield*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Herczeg Institute on Aging, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Minerva Center for Interdisciplinary Study of End of Life, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Haim Hazan
Affiliation:
Herczeg Institute on Aging, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Minerva Center for Interdisciplinary Study of End of Life, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Yaffa Lerman
Affiliation:
Geriatric Division, Tel-Aviv Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Vera Shalom
Affiliation:
The Counseling Services Division for The Elderly, National Insurance Institute of Israel
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Jiska Cohen-Mansfield, Tel-Aviv University, P.O.B. 39040, Ramat Aviv, Tel-Aviv, 69978, Israel. Phone: 972-3-6407337. Email: jiska@post.tau.ac.il.
Get access Rights & Permissions[Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Older persons are particularly vulnerable to loneliness because of common age-related changes and losses. This paper reviews predictors of loneliness in the older population as described in the current literature and a small qualitative study.

Methods:

Peer-reviewed journal articles were identified from psycINFO, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar from 2000–2012. Overall, 38 articles were reviewed. Two focus groups were conducted asking older participants about the causes of loneliness.

Results:

Variables significantly associated with loneliness in older adults were: female gender, non-married status, older age, poor income, lower educational level, living alone, low quality of social relationships, poor self-reported health, and poor functional status. Psychological attributes associated with loneliness included poor mental health, low self-efficacy beliefs, negative life events, and cognitive deficits. These associations were mainly studied in cross-sectional studies. In the focus groups, participants mentioned environmental barriers, unsafe neighborhoods, migration patterns, inaccessible housing, and inadequate resources for socializing. Other issues raised in the focus groups were the relationship between loneliness and boredom and inactivity, the role of recent losses of family and friends, as well as mental health issues, such as shame and fear.

Conclusions:

Future quantitative studies are needed to examine the impact of physical and social environments on loneliness in this population. It is important to better map the multiple factors and ways by which they impact loneliness to develop better solutions for public policy, city, and environmental planning, and individually based interventions. This effort should be viewed as a public health priority.

Keywords

loneliness risk factorsagingliterature reviewqualitative researchmental health
Type
Review Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , April 2016 , pp. 557 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aartsen, M. and Jylhä, M. (2011). Onset of loneliness in older adults: results of a 28 year prospective study. European Journal of Ageing, 8, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adams, K. B., Sanders, S. and Auth, E. (2004). Loneliness and depression in independent living retirement communities: risk and resilience factors. Aging & Mental Health, 8, 475–485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alma, M. A., Van der Mei, S. F., Feitsma, W. N., Groothoff, J. W., Van Tilburg, T. G. and Suurmeijer, T. P. (2011). Loneliness and self-management abilities in the visually impaired elderly. Journal of Aging and Health, 23, 843–861.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayalon, L., Shiovitz-Ezra, S. and Palgi, Y. (2012). Associations of loneliness in older married men and women. Aging & Mental Health, 17, 33–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C. and Thisted, R. A. (2010). Perceived social isolation makes me sad: 5-year cross-lagged analyses of loneliness and depressive symptomatology in the Chicago health, aging, and social relations study. Psychology and Aging, 25, 453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cattan, M., White, M., Bond, J. and Learmouth, A. (2005). Preventing social isolation and loneliness among older people: a systematic review of health promotion interventions. Ageing & Society, 25, 41–67.Google Scholar
Chalise, H. N., Kai, I. and Saito, T. (2010). Social support and its correlation with loneliness: a cross-cultural study of Nepalese older adults. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 71, 115–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen-Mansfield, J. and Parpura-Gill, A. (2007). Loneliness in older persons: a theoretical model and empirical findings. International Psychogeriatrics, 19, 279–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen-Mansfield, J. and Perach, R. (2014). Interventions for alleviating loneliness among older persons: a critical review. American Journal of Health Promotion, 29, e109–125.Google Scholar
Cohen-Mansfield, J., Shmotkin, D. and Goldberg, S. (2009). Loneliness in old age: longitudinal changes and their determinants in an Israeli sample. International Psychogeriatrics, 21, 1160–1170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbin, J. M. and Strauss, A. C. (2007). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Coyle, C. E. and Dugan, E. (2012). Social Isolation, Loneliness and Health Among Older Adults. Journal of Aging & Health, 24, 1346–1363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Jong Gierveld, J. (1998). A review of loneliness: concept and definitions, determinants, and consequences. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 8, 73–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drennan, J. et al. (2008). The experience of social and emotional loneliness among older people in Ireland. Ageing and Society, 28, 1113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fokkema, T., De Jong Gierveld, J. and Dykstra, P. A. (2012). Cross-national differences in older adult loneliness. The Journal of Psychology, 146, 201–228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fry, P. S. and Debats, D. L. (2002). Self-efficacy beliefs as predictors of loneliness and psychological distress in older adults. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 55, 233–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glicksman, A., Clark, K., Kleban, M. H., Ring, L. and Hoffman, C. (2014). Building an integrated research/policy planning age-friendly agenda. J Aging Soc Policy, 26, 131–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golden, J. et al. (2009). Loneliness, social support networks, mood, and wellbeing in community-dwelling elderly. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24, 694–700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenfield, E. A. and Russell, D. (2011). Identifying living arrangements that heighten risk for loneliness in later life evidence from the US national social life, health, and aging project. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 30, 524–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Havens, B., Hall, M., Sylvestre, G. and Jivan, T. (2004). Social isolation and loneliness: differences between older rural and urban Manitobans. Canadian Journal on Aging, 23, 129–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkley, L. C., Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Masi, C. M., Thisted, R. A. and Cacioppo, J. T. (2008). From social structural factors to perceptions of relationship quality and loneliness: the Chicago health, aging, and social relations study. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 63, S375–S384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hensley, B. et al. (2012). Life events and personality predicting loneliness among centenarians: findings from the Georgia centenarian study. The Journal of Psychology, 146, 173–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heylen, L. (2010). The older, the lonelier? risk factors for social loneliness in old age. Ageing and Society, 30, 1177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iecovich, E. and Biderman, A. (2012). Attendance in adult day care centers and its relation to loneliness among frail older adults. International Psychogeriatrics, 24, 439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuyper, L. and Fokkema, T. (2010). Loneliness among older lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults: the role of minority stress. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39, 1171–1180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lauder, W., Mummery, K., Jones, M. and Caperchione, C. (2006). A comparison of health behaviours in lonely and non-lonely populations. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 11, 233–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Losada, A., Márquez-González, M., García-Ortiz, L., Gómez-Marcos, M. A., Fernández-Fernández, V. and Rodríguez-Sánchez, E. (2012). Loneliness and mental health in a representative sample of community-dwelling Spanish older adults. The Journal of Psychology, 146, 277–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luanaigh, C. Ó. and Lawlor, B. A. (2008). Loneliness and the health of older people. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 1213–1221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luo, Y., Hawkley, L. C., Waite, L. J. and Cacioppo, J. T. (2012). Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: a national longitudinal study. Social Science & Medicine, 74, 907–914.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newall, N. E., Chipperfield, J. G., Clifton, R. A., Perry, R. P., Swift, A. U. and Ruthig, J. C. (2009). Causal beliefs, social participation, and loneliness among older adults: a longitudinal study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26, 273–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newall, N. E., Chipperfield, J. G., Bailis, D. S. and Stewart, T. L. (2012). Consequences of loneliness on physical activity and mortality in older adults and the power of positive emotions. Health Psychology, 32, 921–924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palgi, Y., Shrira, A., Ben-Ezra, M., Shiovitz-Ezra, S. and Ayalon, L. (2012). Self-and other-oriented potential lifetime traumatic events as predictors of loneliness in the second half of life. Aging & Mental Health, 16, 423–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, C. and Ribeiro, O. (2009). Predicting loneliness in old people living in the community. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 19, 53–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penninx, B. W., Van Tilburg, T., Kriegsman, D. M., Deeg, D. J., Boeke, A. J. P. and van Eijk, J. T. M. (1997). Effects of social support and personal coping resources on mortality in older age: the longitudinal aging study Amsterdam. American Journal of Epidemiology, 146, 510–519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perissinotto, C. M., Cenzer, I. S. and Covinsky, K. E. (2012). Loneliness in older persons: a predictor of functional decline and death. Archives of Internal Medicine, 172, 1078–1084.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinquart, M. and Sorensen, S. (2001). Influences on loneliness in older adults: a meta-analysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 23, 245–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prieto-Flores, M.-E., Forjaz, M. J., Fernandez-Mayoralas, G., Rojo-Perez, F. and Martinez-Martin, P. (2011). Factors associated with loneliness of noninstitutionalized and institutionalized older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 23, 177–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pronk, M., et al. (2011). Prospective effects of hearing status on loneliness and depression in older persons: Identification of subgroups. International Journal of Audiology, 50, 887–896.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Routasalo, P. E., Savikko, N., Tilvis, R. S., Strandberg, T. E. and Pitkälä, K. H. (2006). Social contacts and their relationship to loneliness among aged people–a population-based study. Gerontology, 52, 181–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Savikko, N., Routasalo, P., Tilvis, R. S., Strandberg, T. E. and Pitkälä, K. (2005). Predictors and subjective causes of loneliness in an aged population. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 41, 223–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnittger, R. I., Wherton, J., Prendergast, D. and Lawlor, B. A. (2012). Risk factors and mediating pathways of loneliness and social support in community-dwelling older adults. Aging & Mental Health, 16, 335–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shiovitz-Ezra, S. and Ayalon, L. (2010). Situational versus chronic loneliness as risk factors for all-cause mortality. International Psychogeriatrics, 22, 455–462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shiovitz-Ezra, S. and Leitsch, S. A. (2010). The role of social relationships in predicting loneliness: the national social life, health, and aging project. Social Work Research, 34, 157–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugisawa, H., Liang, J. and Liu, X. (1994). Social networks, social support, and mortality among older people in Japan. Journal of Gerontology, 49, S3–S13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Theeke, L. A. (2009). Predictors of loneliness in US adults over age sixty-five. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 23, 387–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theeke, L. A. (2010). Sociodemographic and health-related risks for loneliness and outcome differences by loneliness status in a sample of U.S. older adults. Research in Gerontological Nursing, 3, 113–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tijhuis, M., De Jong-Gierveld, J., Feskens, E. and Kromhout, D. (1999). Changes in and factors related to loneliness in older men. The Zutphen Elderly Study. Age and Ageing, 28, 491–495.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Baarsen, B., Snijders, T. A., Smit, J. H. and Van Duijn, M. A. (2001). Lonely but not alone: Emotional isolation and social isolation as two distinct dimensions of loneliness in older people. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 61, 119–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victor, C. R. and Bowling, A. (2012). A longitudinal analysis of loneliness among older people in Great Britain. The Journal of Psychology, 146, 313–331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Victor, C. R., Scambler, S. J., Bowling, A. and Bond, J. (2005). The prevalence of, and risk factors for, loneliness in later life: a survey of older people in Great Britain. Ageing and Society, 25, 357–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, R. S. et al. (2007). Loneliness and risk of Alzheimer disease. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 234–240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed