Journal
ARCHIVES OF GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS
Volume 41, Issue 3, Pages 223-233Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2005.03.002
Keywords
loneliness; aged population; causes for loneliness
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence and self-reported causes of loneliness among Finnish older population. The data were collected with a postal questionnaire from a random sample of 6786 elderly people (>= 75 years of age). The response rate was 71.8% from community-dwelling sample. Of the respondents, 39% suffered from loneliness, 5% often or always. Loneliness was more common among rural elderly people than those living in cities. It was associated with advancing age, living alone or in a residential home, widowhood, low level of education and poor income. In addition, poor health status, poor functional status, poor vision and loss of hearing increased the prevalence of loneliness. The most common subjective causes for loneliness were illnesses, death of a spouse and lack of friends. Loneliness seems to derive from societal life changes as well as from natural life events and hardships originating from aging. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available