Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Spanish version of the 11-item De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale

Abstract

Background: Loneliness has been associated with physical and mental health problems. It has also been considered a serious social problem that increases the use and costs of health services. The most widely used instrument in Europe for measuring loneliness is the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS). The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the 11-item DJGLS by means of the Rasch model, and its convergent and discriminant validity. Methods: Participants were a representative sample of Spanish community-dwelling adults aged 60 and older. We evaluated sociodemographic variables, health, social support, social activity, and subjective well-being measures. Results: Person and item fit statistics, and standardized residual principal component analysis revealed that the DJGLS was essentially unidimensional. However, we found DIF across marital status and living arrangements. Moderate to high associations were found between loneliness and depression, self-rated loneliness, positive and negative emotions, and satisfaction with life. The DJGLS differentiated between well known-groups according to gender, marital status, living arrangements, health, structural and functional aspects of social networks, and social activity. Conclusions: The DJGLS is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring loneliness in Spanish older adults. The addition of a few items in order to improve the measurement range is strongly recommended. Our findings are consistent with previous research indicating that loneliness is an important aspect of mental health and subjective well-being, and support the use of the scale to detect vulnerable population in old age.

Evidencia de Validez y Confiabilidad de una Medida de Soledad en Adolescentes Peruanos

“…De esta forma, los investigadores y diferentes profesionales de la salud, que utilicen la DJGLS para medir la soledad, deben considerar que la escala mide dos dimensiones (social y emocional) relacionadas y no una sola. Lo anterior concuerda con estudios en población adolescente (Çavdar et al, 2015) y en otros grupos etarios Buz & Pérez-Arrechaederra, 2014;De Jong-Gierveld & Van Tilburg, 1992;Kunts et al, 2010;Shiovitz-Ezra & Ayalon, 2012;Zammuner, 2008). En ese sentido, distinguir entre la soledad social y la emocional a nivel conceptual permitirá una comprensión de los factores personales propios de la adolescencia de manera independiente (Goosby et al, 2013;Tiwari, 2013;Van Dulmen & Goossens 2013;Vanhalst et al, 2014), tanto a nivel intra como interpersonal.…”

“…al., 2012;Buz & Prieto, 2013;Iecovich, 2013;Leung, De Jong-Gierveld, & Lam, 2008). Diversas investigaciones centradas en el análisis de la estructura interna de la DJGLS ponen en duda su unidimensionalidad (Grygiel, Hummenny, Rebisz, Switaj, & Sikorska, 2012), e indican la existencia de dos dimensiones subyacentes, denominadas soledad social y soledad emocional (Buz & Pérez-Arrechaederra, 2014;Buz, Urchaga, & Polo, 2014;Kunts, Bogaerts, & Winkel, 2010;Shiovitz-Ezra & Ayalon, 2012). Algunos autores (Buz & Prieto, 2013;De Jong-Gierveld & Kamphuis, 1985; De Jong-Gierveld & Van Tilburg, 2010) señalan, con base en estudios en diferentes países, que si bien los sentimientos de soledad son heterogéneos, por lo que generan experiencias sociales y emocionales, la presencia de estas dos dimensiones es atribuible al efecto del método de los ítems inversos, de modo que no existe fundamento teórico para sustentar la presencia de dos dimensiones.…”

El Apoyo Social Y La Soledad De Las Mujeres Mayores Usuarias De Teleasistencia

“…Cuanto más elevada sea la puntuación, mayor será la intensidad de soledad de la persona entrevistada. Es el instrumento más usado en Europa para medir la soledad y está validado en población mayor española (Buz y Pérez-Arechaederra, 2014;Tomás, Pinazo-Hernandis, y DonioBellegarde, 2016). Se trata de un instrumento fiable y válido, especialmente en investigaciones con muestras de personas mayores (Penning, Liu, y Chou, 2014).…”

Validation of the Malay Version of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale

“…The DJGLS is a self‐administered questionnaire available as an 11‐item measure. The DJGLS was originally developed in Dutch, and versions of it have already been validated for use in a number of languages: English, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew and Polish . However, the 11‐item DJGLS was difficult to use in large surveys.…”