Psychological correlates of loneliness in the older adult.
Arch Psychiatr Nurs
; 5(3): 165-70, 1991 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-1929565
ABSTRACT
Loneliness is the emotional response to the discrepancy between desired and available relationships. As people grow old, the likelihood of experiencing age-related losses increases. Such losses may impede the maintenance or acquisition of desired relationships, resulting in a higher incidence of loneliness. This pilot study examines how loneliness relates to age-related losses, hopelessness, self-transcendence, and spiritual well-being in a convenience sample of 107 adults aged 65 years or older. The collective utility of the independent variables in predicting loneliness was investigated by means of a regression decision tree with an automatic random subset crossvalidation procedure. This procedure explained 46% of the variance. Higher scores for age-related losses and hopelessness were associated with higher loneliness scores. Higher scores for self-transcendence and existential spiritual well-being were associated with lower loneliness scores.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Aging
/
Loneliness
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Arch Psychiatr Nurs
Year:
1991
Document type:
Article