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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Older people's experiences of loneliness in the UK
— does gender matter? | | Author(s) | Christina R Victor, Sasha J Scambler, Louise Marston |
| Journal title | Social Policy & Society, vol 5, pt 1, January 2006 |
| Pages | pp 27-38 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org |
| Keywords | Loneliness ; Isolation ; Older men ; Older women ; Correlation. |
| Annotation | The extent and nature of loneliness in later life does not show a consistent relationship with gender. As part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Growing Older (GO) Programme, this study investigated whether there are differences in the nature and extent of loneliness among older men and women in contemporary Britain. Loneliness was measured using a self-report 4-point scale and a special module commissioned from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Omnibus Survey comprising a nationally representative sample of 999 people aged 65+ living in the community (response rate 77%). About half of the sample (53%) were women. Compared with men, the women were significantly more likely to be widowed, live alone, and have direct contact with friends and relatives. Preliminary analysis identified statistically significant differences between men's and women's self-reported loneliness (and changes over the previous decade). Ordered logistic regression indicated that gender was no longer independently associated with loneliness once confounding influences of marital status, age and living arrangements were excluded. The overall self-reported prevalence of severe loneliness shows little difference between men and women, challenging the stereotype that loneliness is a specifically female experience. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-060424206 A |
| Classmark | DV: TP: BC: BD: 49 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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