Loneliness in middle and old age: demographics, perceived health, and social satisfaction as predictors

Purpose of the research: (a) To identify the prevalence of loneliness self-reported in the Portuguese
population over 50 years of age and (b) test whether loneliness can be predicted by socio-demographic,
health related or social characteristic of the sample other than age.
Materials and methods: 1174 late middle age and older adults were interviewed face to face by different
interviewers across the country; after the informed consent was signed, we asked the participants
several socio-demographic and health-related questions; finally we asked ‘‘How often do you feel
lonely?’’ and participants responded according to a five point Likert scale.
Principal results: The results showed that 12% of participants reporting feeling lonely often or always,
whereas 40% reporting never feeling lonely. The remaining 48% self-reported they felt lonely seldom or
sometimes. Additionally, results show that, when taken together, variables such as marital status, type of
housing, residence settings, health conditions, social satisfaction, social isolation, lack of interest,
transportation, and age were predictors of loneliness.
Major conclusions: (1) The association of loneliness with advanced age has been greatly exaggerated by
mass media and common sense; (2) But although our findings did not confirm the most alarmist views,
the 12% of older adults reporting that they are feeling lonely always or often should be cause for attention
and concern. It is necessary to understand the meaning, reasons and level of suffering implied on those
feelings of loneliness. (3) Our findings suggest that it makes no sense to construe age as a singular feature
or cause for feelings of loneliness. Instead, age and also a number of other features combine to predict
feelings of loneliness. But even with our predictor variables there was a substantial of variance left
unexplained. Therefore it is necessary to continue exploring how feelings of loneliness arise from the
experience of living and how they can be changed.
Project AAL4ALL, co-financed by the European Community Fund FEDER through COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC). The authors also acknowledge the AAL4ALL collaborators who contributed in conducting the survey. Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Lisbon, through project PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2013.