Abstract
Loneliness jeopardizes a person’s mental health especially when it is both severe and prolonged. It has been associated with a variety of negative health outcomes. Elderly population is at risk of suffering from psychiatric disorders like loneliness inter alia for the reason of rapid sociocultural and demographic changes, as their number is growing day by day both in developing and developed countries. With this backdrop, the present study examines the prevalence of loneliness among rural and urban elderly of West Bengal, India and the effects of socio-demographic factors in loneliness prevalence. The study was conducted with middle class Bengalis inhabiting the urban locale of Salt Lake City, Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) and a few villages in a remote rural setting under the Horkhali Gram Panchayat, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. The study sample consists of 205 rural and 176 urban elderly individuals, aged between 65 years and 79 years. Information on loneliness is obtained following the standard questionnaire namely, UCLA Loneliness Scale. Information on socio-demographic characteristics from the study population have been collected through a pretested questionnaire developed for the present study. The result of study indicates that the place of residence is an important correlate for loneliness. It is observed that both rural males and females experience significantly higher prevalence of loneliness in comparison to their urban counterparts. Age, sex, family composition, socio-economic status, and social support and network remain as influencing factors for loneliness in the study population. Implications of such results are discussed in the paper.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2018 Special Focus: Aging, Health, Well-Being, and Care in a Time of Extreme Demographic Change
KEYWORDS
Loneliness, Elderly, India
