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Predicting loneliness in old people living in the community

Part of: Bespoke shallow archive Weizmann

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2009

Constança Paúl  and
Oscar Ribeiro
Constança Paúl*
Affiliation:
Research and Education Unit on Ageing Unifai, ICBAS, University of Porto, Largo Prof. Abel Salazar, 2, 4099–003 Porto, Portugal
Oscar Ribeiro
Affiliation:
Research and Education Unit on Ageing (UnIFai) and School of Health Sciences of the University of Aveiro (ESSUA), Campus Universitário de Santiago, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810–193 Aveiro, Portugal
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Constança Paúl, Research and Education Unit on Ageing (UnIFai), Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Largo Prof. Abel Salazar, 2, 4099–003 Porto, Portugal. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

Loneliness and social isolation are two core concepts regarding social relationships in human life that are particularly relevant in old age. This article focuses on the prevalence of loneliness in a community sample of 1266 autonomous people aged 50 or more and on the structural circumstances (demographic social network and general health condition) that could better contribute to its experience. The prevalence of loneliness was 16.3% (n = 206) and a small number of people presented low social network (7%). Predictors of loneliness (explaining 29% of variance) were being widowed, perceiving own health as poor or very poor, and having psychological distress and cognitive impairment. The authors emphasize the importance of psychological distress as a predictor of loneliness and the need for social and psychological interventions to prevent its consequences in morbidity and mortality.

Keywords

lonelinessold agecommunity
Type
Psychological and social gerontology
Information
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , February 2009 , pp. 53 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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