Abstract
This paper discerns the challenges associated with estimating the prevalence of loneliness, with a special focus on older adults. Generally described as a distressing feeling that arises when there is a mismatch between desired and actual levels of social integration, loneliness seriously impacts both health and longevity. There is thus a growing interest in measuring and comparing the prevalence of loneliness within and between countries to assess the extent of the problem. This endeavour is hindered by various challenges that have yet to be exhaustively discussed and analysed. To achieve this objective, the paper compares data on loneliness from the latest relevant waves of five publicly available population studies conducted in Switzerland: the European Social Survey (2014), MOSAiCH (2017), SHARE (2019), the Swiss Health Survey (2017), and the Swiss Household Panel (2019). First, it extracts the mean levels of loneliness from the different datasets. Second, it transforms these into percentages to render them comparable. Mean levels of loneliness vary considerably from dataset to dataset and range from 8.53% in the European Social Survey to 18.6% in the Swiss Household Panel. The variation is particularly pronounced among the oldest old (85+), who present mean levels of loneliness that fluctuate from 7.94% in MOSAiCH to 24.2% in the Swiss Household Panel. These discrepancies are most likely due to various factors such as the number and type of questions and the number and type of response options employed in the questionnaires.
Presenters
Elia R.G. PusterlaPostdoctoral Researcher, Centre of Competence on Ageing (CCA), University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), Ticino (it), Switzerland Cavalli Stefano
University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland Stefano Cereghetti
Assistant, Centre of Competence on Aging, Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Ticino (it), Switzerland
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Loneliness; Older adults; Prevalence; Measurement; Challenges
