Marsillas Sara, Schoenmakers Eric
Matia Gerontological Institute, Madrid, Spain.
Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Eur J Ageing. 2022 Jan 18;19(3):753-762. doi: 10.1007/s10433-021-00658-y. eCollection 2022 Sep.
In recent years, loneliness has been receiving increasing attention, yet there remains a lot to learn about how older adults cope with loneliness. In this study, the practices older adults consider for coping with loneliness and the relationship between various types of coping practices, loneliness, and personal resources are examined. Several hypotheses about the relationship between social and emotional loneliness, personal resources, and mentioning coping practices are formulated. Data was collected in Gipuzkoa (Basque Country, Spain) through structured interviews using a telephone survey among a representative sample of older adults aged 55 and over ( = 894). Results show that lonely and non-lonely respondents alike consider a few coping practices and prefer active and individual coping practices over social and passive ones for coping with loneliness. Experiencing emotional loneliness is related to mentioning more individual and active coping practices. Social coping practices were considered less often by respondents who experienced better self-rated health and more often by respondents with vision loss, a higher educational level and higher quality of life. In conclusion, while older adults differ in coping efforts they mention, these differences are only explained to a small extent by their experience of loneliness and available resources. For future research and practice development, a deeper understanding of the process of coping with loneliness is needed.
近年来,孤独问题日益受到关注,但对于老年人如何应对孤独,仍有许多有待了解之处。在本研究中,我们考察了老年人认为可用于应对孤独的做法,以及各类应对方式、孤独感和个人资源之间的关系。我们提出了一些关于社交孤独与情感孤独、个人资源以及提及的应对方式之间关系的假设。通过电话调查,我们在西班牙巴斯克地区的吉普斯夸省,对894名55岁及以上的老年人进行了结构化访谈,收集了相关数据。结果显示,孤独和不孤独的受访者都考虑了一些应对方式,并且在应对孤独时,他们更倾向于积极的个人应对方式,而非社交和消极的应对方式。经历情感孤独与提及更多的个人和积极应对方式有关。自评健康状况较好的受访者较少考虑社交应对方式,而视力受损、教育水平较高和生活质量较高的受访者则更多地考虑社交应对方式。总之,虽然老年人提及的应对努力存在差异,但这些差异在很大程度上仅由他们的孤独经历和可用资源来解释。对于未来的研究和实践发展而言,需要更深入地理解应对孤独的过程。