Living Alone and Neighborhood Stress: Associations with Perceived Social Isolation In Older Adults

• In Event: 067 - Section on Aging and the Life Course Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 10. Stress, Mental Health, Substance Use and Problem Behaviors

Abstract

Although living alone is known to increase risk for loneliness, the effects of adverse environmental factors on loneliness are less well understood. Yet there is a reason to think that place matters for feelings of loneliness and conversely, social connectedness. Residence in and chronic exposure to dangerous and/or deprived neighborhoods may influence social network size and quality, key predictors of loneliness. Using Wave II of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative sample of older adults in the US aged 62-90 years (N=1,708), this study investigated the influence of social (i.e., living alone) and environmental stressors (i.e., neighborhood crime, built environment, and neighborhood deprivation) on loneliness, and considered the role of social network context (quantity and quality of social network) as a mediator in this relationship. Using multivariate regression, we found that social and environmental stressors were independently associated with more intense feelings of loneliness. These associations were mediated by closeness to network members (quality), not by network size (quantity). This indicates that quality of social network may protect against loneliness in the face of distressing environments in later life, and suggest that preventative strategies or interventions specific to supportive social network need to be developed.

Authors

• Haena Lee, The University of Chicago

• Louise Hawkley, NORC at the University of Chicago