Measuring Older Adult Loneliness Across Countries.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The topic of older adult loneliness commands increasing media and policy attention around the world. Are surveys of aging equipped to measure it? We assess the measurement of loneliness in large-scale aging studies in 31 countries by describing the available measures, testing correlations between them, and documenting their construct validity.

Methods

We use data from several "sister studies" of aging adults around the world. In each country, we document available loneliness measures, test for measurement reliability by examining correlations between different measures of loneliness, and assess how these correlations differ by gender and age group. We then evaluate construct validity by estimating correlations between loneliness measures and theoretically hypothes

SUBMITTER: Newmyer L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8363044 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature