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Author: search.filters.author.Stephens CSubject: search.filters.subject.Loneliness

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    The life course effects of socioeconomic status on later life loneliness: The role of gender and ethnicity
    (Elsevier Inc., 2024-09-07) Szabó Á; Stephens C; Breheny M
    Precursors of loneliness include individual risk factors and experiences of social exclusion. Using the New Zealand Health Work and Retirement Life Course History Study, we investigated the impact of unequal access to material resources across the life course (from age 10 to present) on late life emotional and social loneliness and the moderating effects of gender and Māori ethnicity (indigenous population of Aotearoa/New Zealand) in 613 adults aged 65 to 81 years. Childhood and adult life socioeconomic status (SES) negatively predicted late life emotional and social loneliness, but their effects disappeared after controlling for late life SES, suggesting a mediation effect. Education was also a significant predictor; however, it exerted different effects on social (positive) and emotional (negative) loneliness. Education's effect was moderated by gender, indicating a protective effect for emotional and an exacerbating effect for social loneliness in men. These findings suggest that lifelong exclusion from material resources is a risk factor for late life loneliness.
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    Older People’s Neighborhood Perceptions Are Related to Social and Emotional Loneliness and Mediated by Social Network Type
    (Oxford University Press, 2022-10-19) Stephens C; Phillips H
    Background and Objectives Loneliness among older people is a public health issue; however, there is very weak support for the efficacy of individually focused interventions. A public health model, which includes the environmental influence on the formation of social networks and protection from loneliness, and theoretical approaches differentiating between social and emotional loneliness, suggest the importance of neighborhoods in preventing loneliness. This approach was used to test the influence of neighborhood factors on loneliness and the mediating role of social networks. Research Design and Methods A questionnaire survey of 917 people aged 60–100 years was conducted in one region of Aotearoa/New Zealand to assess loneliness, social network types, social participation, marital status, gender, health, and four aspects of neighborhood perceptions. Results Social and emotional loneliness scores were regressed on predicted demographic and social variables, followed by perceptions of Housing Satisfaction, Neighborhood Accessibility, Neighborhood Security, and Neighborhood Social Cohesion. Neighborhood variables added significant explanation of variance in both social and emotional loneliness. Mediation tests using PROCESS showed that the effects of all neighborhood variables were mediated by Private-Restricted or Locally Integrated Network types on Social Loneliness only. Discussion and Implications These findings highlight the importance of neighborhood factors in relation to feelings of loneliness and the recognition of social network types as mediators of these relationships for social loneliness. The aspects of neighborhoods that prevent loneliness provide directions for planners and prevention programs. Interventions to prevent social loneliness can usefully and practicably focus on the housing and neighborhood environment.