Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T22:48:12.157Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Loneliness and aging in China–a public health problem in need of solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2014

Shulin Chen ,
Yeates Conwell  and
Helen Fung Kum Chiu
Shulin Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Yeates Conwell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
Helen Fung Kum Chiu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Loneliness is a common, distressing feeling that results when one perceives his/her social relationships and supports as inadequate. Social connectedness refers to the relationships between the individual and his or her family, friends, community, and other supports. Neither loneliness nor social connectedness has received enough research attention, in particular with regard to older adults’ physical and mental health.

Type
Commentary Paper of the Month
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 26 , Issue 11 , November 2014 , pp. 1771 - 1772
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hawkley, L. C. and Cacioppo, J. T. (2010) Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms. Annals of Behavioral Medicine: A Publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 40, 218–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B. and Layton, J. B. (2010) Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 7, e1000316.Google Scholar
Holwerda, T. J. et al. (2014). Feelings of loneliness, but not social isolation, predict dementia onset: results from the Amsterdam Study of the Elderly (AMSTEL). Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 85, 135–142.Google Scholar
Luo, Y. and Waite, L. J. (2014). Loneliness and mortality among older adults in China. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 69, 633–645.Google Scholar
Morrow-Howell, N. (2010). Volunteering in later life: research frontiers. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65, 461–469.Google Scholar
Van Orden, K. A., Stone, D. M., Rowe, J., McIntosh, W. L., Podgorski, C. and Conwell, Y. (2013). The senior connection: design and rationale of a randomized trial of peer companionship to reduce suicide risk in later life. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 35, 117–126.Google Scholar
Yan, Z., Yang, X., Wang, L., Zhao, Y. and Yu, L. (2014). Social change and birth cohort increase in loneliness among Chinese older adults: a cross-temporal meta-analysis, 1995–2011. International Psychogeriatrics 26, 1773–1781.Google Scholar