This paper describes an attempt to construct a measuring instrument for loneliness that meets the cri teria of a Rasch scale. Rasch (1960, 1966) proposed a latent trait model for the unidimensional scaling of di chotomous items that does not suffer from the inade quacies of classical approaches. The resulting Rasch scale of this study, which is based on data from 1,201 employed, disabled, and jobless adults, consists of five positive and six negative items. The positive items assess feelings of belongingness, whereas the negative items apply to three separate aspects of miss ing relationships. The techniques for testing the as sumptions underlying the Rasch model are compared with their counterparts from classical test theory, and the implications for the methodology of scale con struction are discussed.

This article presents a model of loneliness that incorporates characteristics of the social network, background variables, personality characteristics, and evaluative aspects. The most salient aspect of this approach is its emphasis on cognitive processes that mediate between characteristics of the social network and the experience of loneliness. A total of 554 adult men and women served as respondents. The program LISREL, a causal modelling approach, was used to analyze the data. The LISREL program includes a goodness-of-fit test that indicates the degree of fit between a particular model and the data. The hypothesized model made a valuable contribution to the understanding of loneliness: It accounted for 52.3% of the variance in the data set. One of the model's major advantages is its ability to disentangle both the direct and the indirect causal influences of the various factors on loneliness.

the increased loneliness experienced by very old men is influenced by loss of a partner, moving into a care home or not feeling healthy.

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Value studies indicate that the process of individualization in Europe started in Sweden and Norway, and continued via France and the Netherlands; the southern European countries lag behind, and are still characterized by more traditional family orientations. Starting from this point of view, this paper investigates the effects of differences between the Netherlands and Italy in the field of living arrangements of older adults with and without partners. The consequences of living alone and of coresidence with adult children have been further investigated, using loneliness as the dependent variable. The size and support functions of the network of social relationships, socio-economic resources, health, sex and age are also taken into account. Data come from face-to-face surveys among a random sample of older adults (55- to 89-year-old women and men) in the Netherlands (n=4,494) and in Italy (n=1,570), using the same research design and questionnaire. The data show country-specific differences in household types of older adults: the proportion living alone is much higher among older people without partners in the Netherlands; the proportion coresiding with their adult children is higher in Italy than in the Netherlands. Controlled for age, health, sex, size and support of the network, and for differences in socio-economic resources, household composition is still the most important determinant of loneliness. Living without a partner in the same household as one's adult children yields country-specific correlations that correspond with differences in value orientations: less loneliness in Italy, more loneliness in the Netherlands.