Although providing care to a family member or friend may provide psychological benefits, informal (i.e., unpaid) caregivers also encounter difficulties which may negatively affect their quality of life as well as their mental and physical health. Loneliness is one important challenge that caregivers face, with this psychological state being associated with morbidity and premature mortality. Alt...

BACKGROUND This study examined the factors that affect loneliness of older people and their relationship with quality of life. METHODS Data in this cross-sectional study were collected through survey form, UCLA Loneliness Scale and Quality of Life (QOL) Short Form (SF-36) Scale. The total number of elderly people over the age of 65 yr from whom the study population was chosen was 4,170. The s...

Loneliness is currently regarded as one of the most common and prevalent problems experienced by adolescents, and it is also observed as a painful, unpleasant and negative experience. South African adolescents also have to face and cope with this predicament daily. The main objective of this study was to establish the perception of adolescents of different cultures regarding loneliness and mora...

INTRODUCTION The present study was conducted with the aim of examining the structural model of interpersonal relationships and depression using coping strategies and loneliness as mediators. METHODS Using multistage random sampling, 301 high-school students were selected from Minudasht city, Iran. The participants were aksed to complete the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI); the Ways o...

OBJECTIVES To examine the psychometric properties of the Social Support Questionnaire Duke-UNC (DUFSS) and the De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale in a sample of non-institutionalized older adults. METHODS The sample consisted of 1,106 non-institutionalized older adults included in a national survey on quality of life. Both scales were analyzed according to classical test theory (acceptability,...

The present study tested the hypothesis that single young adults who perceive their singlehood as voluntary would report a higher level of positive mental health (i.e., emotional, psychological and social well-being), lower levels of mental health illness (i.e., somatic symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction, severe depression) and romantic loneliness in comparison to young adults who perceive t...

OBJECTIVE Both objective and subjective aspects of social isolation have been associated with alterations in immune markers relevant to multiple chronic diseases among older adults. However, these associations may be confounded by health status, and it is unclear whether these social factors are associated with immune functioning among relatively healthy adults. The goal of this study was to ex...

Lonely older adults have increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes as well as increased risk for morbidity and mortality. Previous behavioral treatments have attempted to reduce loneliness and its concomitant health risks, but have had limited success. The present study tested whether the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program (compared to a Wait-List control group) reduc...

BACKGROUND We examined the association between perceived environmental barriers to outdoor mobility and loneliness among community-dwelling older people. In addition, we studied whether walking difficulties and autonomy in participation outdoors affected this association. METHODS Cross-sectional analyses of face-to-face home interview data with 848 people aged 75-90 years (mean age: 80.1 year...

Loneliness is nowadays considered to be one of the main problems in society. The negative experience of a discrepancy between the desired and the achieved personal network of relationships is common and affects both younger and older adults. This chapter first addresses well-established aspects and new developments in the main concepts of loneliness and social isolation, the measuring instrumen...