Loneliness, social relations and health and well-being in deprived communities

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23375642
AutoresAileen Kearns (0000-0003-3198-8392, Urban Big Data Centre, autor de correspondencia), Ade Kearns, Elise Whitley (0000-0002-0297-9078, MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit), Carol Tannahill (Glasgow Centre for Population Health), Anne Ellaway (0000-0002-2117-4451, MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit)
Año2015
Volumen20
Número3
Páginas332-344
Fecha de publicación2015-04-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPsychology, Health & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1354-8506 • E-ISSN: 1465-3966
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13548506.2014.940354
PMID25058303
OpenAlexW2013377637
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas70
Referencias citadas22

There is a growing policy concern about the extent of loneliness in advanced societies, and its prevalence among various social groups. This study looks at loneliness among people living in deprived communities, where there may be additional barriers to social engagement including low incomes, fear of crime, poor services and transient populations. The aim was to examine the prevalence of loneliness, and also its associations with different types of social contacts and forms of social support, and its links to self-reported health and well-being in the population group. The method involved a cross-sectional survey of 4302 adults across 15 communities, with the data analysed using multinomial logistic regression controlling for sociodemographics, then for all other predictors within each domain of interest. Frequent feelings of loneliness were more common among those who: had contact with family monthly or less; had contact with neighbours weekly or less; rarely talked to people in the neighbourhood; and who had no available sources of practical or emotional support. Feelings of loneliness were most strongly associated with poor mental health, but were also associated with long-term problems of stress, anxiety and depression, and with low mental well-being, though to a lesser degree. The findings are consistent with a view that situational loneliness may be the product of residential structures and resources in deprived areas. The findings also show that neighbourly behaviours of different kinds are important for protecting against loneliness in deprived communities. Familiarity within the neighbourhood, as active acquaintance rather than merely recognition, is also important. The findings are indicative of several mechanisms that may link loneliness to health and well-being in our study group: loneliness itself as a stressor; lonely people not responding well to the many other stressors in deprived areas; and loneliness as the product of weak social buffering to protect against stressors.

Anxiety · Feeling · Loneliness · Mental health · Multinomial logistic regression · Neighbourhood (mathematics) · Population · Psychiatry · Situational ethics · Social isolation · Social support · Sociology · Demography · Health disparities and outcomes · Health, psychology, and well-being · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology