Loneliness among older Europeans

Sundström, Gerdt; Fransson, Eleonor I.; Malmberg, Bo; Davey, Adam

doi:10.1007/s10433-009-0134-8

Cited by 220 publications

(221 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

175

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the next decade, this situation will change (especially for women): The proportion of widowed older people will become smaller, and the proportions of both married and divorced persons will increase (Kalogirou and Murphy 2006). Living together with a partner is quite often associated with lower prevalence of loneliness (Sundström et al 2009). …”

Section: Cultural Norms As Reference System For Individual Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We hope that our tentative theoretical model might help to stimulate further empirical research and open possibilities to broaden the model to other regions of Europe. Comparing Northern and Southern European countries, Sundström and colleagues find that the prevalence of loneliness is higher in the Mediterranean countries than in Northern Europe (Sundström et al 2009)-and point out that this is a puzzling finding because 'this is at variance with our most simplified and cherished views of ''Anomie'' in Nordic countries and ''Gemeinschaft'' in Southern societies'. We believe that our model might be useful in this context.…”

Section: Outlook: Changing Lives In Changing Societiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Loneliness in old age in Eastern and Western European societies: theoretical perspectives

Gierveld¹,

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Data from European countries participating in the Generations and Gender Surveys showed that mean loneliness scores of older adults are higher in Eastern than in Western European countries. Although co-residence is considered as one of the fundamental types of social integration, and although co-residence is more common in Eastern Europe, the mean loneliness scores of older coresident adults in Eastern Europe are still very high. This article investigates mechanisms behind the puzzling between-country differences in social integration and loneliness. Firstly, the theoretical framework of loneliness is discussed starting from the individual's perspective using the deficit and the cognitive discrepancy approach and taking into account older adults' deprived living conditions. Secondly, mechanisms at the societal level are investigated: cultural norms, the demographical composition and differences in societal wealth and welfare. It is argued that an integrated theoretical model, as developed in this article, combining individual and societal level elements, is most relevant for understanding the puzzling reality around social integration and loneliness in countrycomparative research. An illustration of the interplay of individual and societal factors in the emergence of loneliness is presented.

show abstract

Section: Cultural Norms As Reference System For Individual Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Outlook: Changing Lives In Changing Societiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness in old age in Eastern and Western European societies: theoretical perspectives

Gierveld¹,

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous studies based on SHARE have also shown that elderly old people in the Scandinavian countries are more satisfied with their social network despite less frequent contact [9,10], and report less loneliness despite a higher prevalence of living alone and other indicators of assumed social community [11]. One explanation could be that in the universal welfare regime the family may have a complementary and more positive role in addition to the more daily-based support from public providers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cross-national comparisons reveal closer intergenerational contacts in Southern and Eastern Europe, with a family-based welfare model, compared to the Scandinavian universal welfare regime [9]. Even though intergenerational contacts are less frequent in the Scandinavian countries and more old people live alone, several studies report greater satisfaction with the social network as compared to countries in Southern and Eastern Europe [10,11]. Previous studies have also shown that the impact of intergenerational contacts varies across socioeconomic groups and that, for instance, family ties are denser among the less educated and partly compensate for a lack of other resources, even in countries with strong public welfare institutions [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health disparities in Europe’s ageing population: the role of social network

Olofsson

Padyab

Malmberg

2018

Global Health Action

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Previous research suggests that the social network may play very different roles in relation to health in countries with differing welfare regimes. Objective: The study aimed to assess the interplay between social network, socioeconomic position, and self-rated health (SRH) in European countries. Methods: The study used cross-sectional data on individuals aged 50+ from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and includes data from 16 countries. The outcome is poor SRH. All analyses are adjusted for age and stratified by gender. Results: Low satisfaction with the social network was associated with poor SRH among women in all country groups, but predicted poor SRH among males in West/Central and Eastern Europe only. The results from the multivariable analysis showed an increased likelihood of poor SRH among those with relatively lower education, as well as among those with low satisfaction with the social network (women from all country groups and men from Western/Central and Eastern Europe). However, the results from interaction analysis show that poor SRH for those with lower relative position in educational level was greater among those with higher satisfaction with the social network among male and female participants from Northern Europe. The health of individuals who are highly satisfied with their social network is more associated with socioeconomic status in Northern Europe. Conclusions: This study highlights the significance of social network and socioeconomic gradients in health among the elderly in Europe.

show abstract

“…While we do not have the space here to offer a full formal analysis of the trends, we can note that three of the six most frequently cited EJA articles that are listed in Thomson ISI's Web of Science deal with loneliness (Dykstra 2009;Scharf and Gierveld 2008;Sundstrom et al 2009). The interpersonal milieu in late life is a domain that is already well covered among the publications that appear in the European Journal of Ageing and we look forward to continued inquiry in this crucial area.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The European Journal of Ageing continues to expand in scope and impact

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The European Journal of Ageing continues to expand in scope and impact. The year that begins with this issue already marks the 12th year since the inception of the journal, the 11th year since publication of four issues per year (2004 saw the publication of one initial issue only), and the 5th year since the journal received its first impact factor from Thomson ISI. In terms of scope, 47 manuscripts were submitted to the journal in its first full year of operation back in 2005. In comparison, we received 161 submissions in our latest full year of publication. The submission rate for 2014 is, therefore, some three and a half times the rate obtained in our first full year of publication and almost twice as much as the rate recorded only 4 years ago, in 2010. The increase in submissions has been matched by an increasingly competitive response rate for EJA. A rough estimate based upon the manuscripts processed in 2014 reveals that less than a fifth of the papers submitted were accepted for publication. This acceptance rate is in the magnitude of that reported in other highlyranked journals.We can also proudly reflect on the growing impact of the European Journal of Ageing among scholars. The latest figures available from Thomson ISI (2013) reveal that the journal attained a 2-year impact factor of 1.262, placing it in 15th place among the 31 journals included in the category of gerontology. This is quite a respectable ranking, one that places EJA alongside the more established and veteran journals in the field. However, 2-year impact factors sometimes do a disservice to journals in fields such as ours that do not tend to have quick publication turnover. For that reason, it is appropriate to take into account the 5-year impact factor, which more accurately reflects the citation time that occurs in the disciplines that contribute to our field of inquiry. Looking at the 5-year impact factor from Thomson ISI, we see that EJA was assigned a score of 1.857. This ranking places our journal 12th among the gerontology journals, (that is, squarely within the second quartile). The current citation record thus clearly indicates that the European Journal of Ageing has already had a significant impact on the field.Another way to gauge impact is to take into account a wider realm of publications, as may be seen by means of the Harzing Publish or Perish Index which produces the H-index. This index includes electronic citations and, thus, reflects a greater breadth of publication types. Perusal of the latest statistics that are listed for EJA on the HPOP website reveals that after exclusion of editorials and similar commentary published in the journal, some 307 articles are listed (this includes those currently on-line in the Springer EJA website), and well over 5,000 citations of the articles published in EJA.

show abstract

Loneliness among older Europeans

Cited by 220 publications

References 13 publications

Loneliness in old age in Eastern and Western European societies: theoretical perspectives

Loneliness in old age in Eastern and Western European societies: theoretical perspectives

Health disparities in Europe’s ageing population: the role of social network

The European Journal of Ageing continues to expand in scope and impact

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About