Centre for Policy on Ageing



Look (closely) at all the lonely people — age and the social psychology of social support
Author(s)	Jason Schnittker
Journal title	Journal of Aging and Health, vol 19, no 4, August 2007
Pages	pp 659-682
Source	http://www.sagepublications.com
Keywords	Loneliness ; Informal care ; Friendship ; Social contacts ; Age groups [elderly] ; Correlation ; United States of America.
Annotation	Using data from the Americans' Changing Lives survey, the author finds that the likelihood of reporting to close friends or confidants increases with age. Role changes - such as the growing likelihood of living alone - accounts for much of this increase. Yet these cases are exceptional, and in general, the number of friends and confidants remains the same. Moreover, evaluations of support become more positive with age, and loneliness declines. Improvements in perceived support appear to be premised on psychological processes rather than role changes. They occur despite changes in the environment and independent of how individuals make choices among friends. Indeed, this process is so powerful that loneliness declines even among those who are living alone, have no children and report no confidants. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-080131203 A
Classmark	DV: P6: DS:SX: TOA: BB: 49: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.