Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Equality, Mental Health, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland.
Non-Discrimination and Gender Equality, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Equality, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 23;18(13):6735. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18136735.
Living alone has become more common across Europe. Past research has consistently identified living alone as a risk factor for poor mental health while evidence on the positive dimension(s) of mental health has been scarce. Positive mental health has been associated with rather stable circumstantial factors, such as socio-economic characteristics and social relationships, and day-to-day activities in the form of leisure participation, in general populations. In this study, our objective was to assess these relationships among people living alone. We specified a structural equation model in a random sample of Finnish people living alone ( 884), with the circumstantial factors as (exogenous) explanatory variables, participation in various leisure activities as mediators, and positive mental health as the outcome. In the model, more frequent engagement in several leisure-time activities, including being in contact with family/friends and physical activity in nature, were positively associated with positive mental health. The circumstantial factors that most strongly explained both leisure participation and positive mental health were the number of friends, being in a relationship, and having no limiting illnesses. In conclusion, among Finnish people living alone, social and functional factors appear to be more strongly associated with leisure participation and positive mental health than socio-economic factors.
独居在欧洲变得越来越普遍。过去的研究一直将独居确定为心理健康不佳的一个风险因素，而关于心理健康积极方面的证据却很少。积极的心理健康与相对稳定的环境因素有关，例如社会经济特征和社会关系，以及在一般人群中以休闲参与的形式进行的日常活动。在这项研究中，我们的目的是评估独居人群中的这些关系。我们在芬兰独居人群的随机样本中指定了一个结构方程模型（884 人），将环境因素作为（外生）解释变量，各种休闲活动的参与作为中介，积极的心理健康作为结果。在该模型中，更频繁地参与各种休闲活动，包括与家人/朋友保持联系和在自然环境中进行身体活动，与积极的心理健康呈正相关。最能解释休闲参与和积极心理健康的环境因素是朋友数量、恋爱关系和没有限制疾病。总之，在芬兰独居人群中，社会和功能因素似乎与休闲参与和积极心理健康的关系比社会经济因素更为密切。
