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Older adult loneliness: myths and realities
Open accessAbstract
The focus in this paper is on the social domain of quality of life, and more particularly loneliness. The empirical literature on older adult loneliness is reviewed, thereby challenging three often-held assumptions that figure prominently in public debates on loneliness. The first assumption that loneliness is a problem specifically for older people finds only partial support. Loneliness is common only among the very old. The second assumption is that people in individualistic societies are most lonely. Contrary to this belief, findings show that older adults in northern European countries tend to be less lonely than those in the more familialistic southern European countries. The scarce data on Central and Eastern Europe suggest a high prevalence of older adult loneliness in those countries. The third assumption that loneliness has increased over the past decades finds no support. Loneliness levels have decreased, albeit slightly. The review notes the persistence of ageist attitudes, and underscores the importance of considering people's frame of reference and normative orientation in analyses of loneliness.
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“In populations throughout the world, social isolation (defined as an objective lack of interactions with others or the wider community) and loneliness (defined as the subjective feeling of the absence of a social network or a companion) are common.”
From An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
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“Surveys in Europe and the USA estimate the prevalence of loneliness ranges from 5% to 43% in the elderly 1-4 , with similar figures for China 5 .”
From An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dykstra, P. A.
- Affiliations
- Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Dykstra, Pearl A.
- ORCID
- Dykstra, Pearl A.
- Venue
- European Journal of Ageing
- Published
- 2009-04-04
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 91-100
- ISSN
- 1613-9372 (ISSN-L)
- 1613-9380
- PMC
- PMC2693783
- OpenAlex
- W2046141868
- Cited by
- 632
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 66 · 2021: 70 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 25
- FWCI
- 16.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- European Journal of Ageing (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KNAW research portal (Royal Academy of Art and Sciences (KNAW)) (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (acceptedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- KNAW Research Portal (The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Life-span and Life-course Studies › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
- Keywords
- loneliness, older adults, quality of life, social sphere, ageism, cross-national comparison, normative orientation, reference frames
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