Loneliness-associated factors among older adults: Focus on friendship type and number of friends

IF 1.7 4区医学 Q2 NURSING Japan Journal of Nursing Science Pub Date : 2025-01-19 DOI:10.1111/jjns.12649

Yuriko Inoue, Hironobu Hamada, Hisae Nakatani, Ichie Ono

{"title":"Loneliness-associated factors among older adults: Focus on friendship type and number of friends","authors":"Yuriko Inoue, Hironobu Hamada, Hisae Nakatani, Ichie Ono","doi":"10.1111/jjns.12649","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Aim</h3>\n \n <p>Loneliness among older people is prevalent. Few studies have examined the association of loneliness with the type of friendship and number of friends. This study aimed to clarify the loneliness-related factors among older adults by gender focusing on the type of friendship and number of friends.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Methods</h3>\n \n <p>An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on 1610 older adults in Japan. The questionnaire included basic characteristics, health status used by the self-administered dementia checklist, type of friendship and number of friends evaluated by the Lubben Social Network Scale, and loneliness evaluated using the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale. Univariate analysis was performed with loneliness as the dependent variable, and multiple logistic regression analysis was also performed.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Results</h3>\n \n <p>A total of 1082 older adults were included for analysis. The loneliness rate was 16.8%. Regarding the type of friendship and number of friends, having <3 close friends to call on for help (tangible aid) was most associated with loneliness (men odds ratio [OR]: 2.88, women OR: 3.10). Higher awareness of the participants of subjective symptoms of dementia was proportionally related to loneliness (men, OR: 3.06; women, OR: 2.40). Among women, economic insecurity (OR: 1.68), subjective health (OR: 2.12), having <3 friends with whom they feel easy to talk about private matters (emotional support) were related to loneliness (OR: 2.38).</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Conclusion</h3>\n \n <p>The results suggested that the type of friendship and number of friends, economic insecurity, and health status might be associated with loneliness among older adults. Several factors related to loneliness might differ by gender.</p>\n </section>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":50265,"journal":{"name":"Japan Journal of Nursing Science","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11743425/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Japan Journal of Nursing Science","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jjns.12649","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

Loneliness among older people is prevalent. Few studies have examined the association of loneliness with the type of friendship and number of friends. This study aimed to clarify the loneliness-related factors among older adults by gender focusing on the type of friendship and number of friends.

Methods

An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on 1610 older adults in Japan. The questionnaire included basic characteristics, health status used by the self-administered dementia checklist, type of friendship and number of friends evaluated by the Lubben Social Network Scale, and loneliness evaluated using the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale. Univariate analysis was performed with loneliness as the dependent variable, and multiple logistic regression analysis was also performed.

Results

A total of 1082 older adults were included for analysis. The loneliness rate was 16.8%. Regarding the type of friendship and number of friends, having <3 close friends to call on for help (tangible aid) was most associated with loneliness (men odds ratio [OR]: 2.88, women OR: 3.10). Higher awareness of the participants of subjective symptoms of dementia was proportionally related to loneliness (men, OR: 3.06; women, OR: 2.40). Among women, economic insecurity (OR: 1.68), subjective health (OR: 2.12), having <3 friends with whom they feel easy to talk about private matters (emotional support) were related to loneliness (OR: 2.38).

Conclusion

The results suggested that the type of friendship and number of friends, economic insecurity, and health status might be associated with loneliness among older adults. Several factors related to loneliness might differ by gender.

Abstract Image

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

老年人孤独感相关因素：关注友谊类型和朋友数量。

目的：老年人的孤独感很普遍。很少有研究调查孤独与友谊类型和朋友数量之间的关系。本研究旨在通过性别分析老年人孤独感的相关因素，重点关注友谊的类型和朋友的数量。方法：对日本1610名老年人进行匿名、自我管理的问卷调查。问卷包括基本特征、自我管理痴呆检查表中使用的健康状况、Lubben社交网络量表评估的友谊类型和朋友数量，以及使用加州大学洛杉矶孤独感量表评估的孤独感。以孤独感为因变量进行单因素分析，并进行多元logistic回归分析。结果：共纳入1082名老年人进行分析。孤独率为16.8%。结论：友谊类型、朋友数量、经济不安全感和健康状况可能与老年人的孤独感有关。与孤独感相关的几个因素可能因性别而异。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

Japan Journal of Nursing Science 医学-护理

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： The Japan Journal of Nursing Science is the official English language journal of the Japan Academy of Nursing Science. The purpose of the Journal is to provide a mechanism to share knowledge related to improving health care and promoting the development of nursing. The Journal seeks original manuscripts reporting scholarly work on the art and science of nursing. Original articles may be empirical and qualitative studies, review articles, methodological articles, brief reports, case studies and letters to the Editor. Please see Instructions for Authors for detailed authorship qualification requirement.