LONELINESS AMONG THE OLDEST-OLD, A COMPARISON BETWEEN RESIDENTS LIVING IN NURSING-HOMES AND RESIDENTS LIVING IN THE COMMUNITY

Two groups of individuals, eighty years of age or older, were compared with respect to the experience of loneliness and the influence of soc ial relationships. One group was living in nursing homes. The other gr oup was living alone in their own homes in the community. There were n o significant differences in experienced loneliness between residents with close contacts with members of family and friends compared to res idents without such contacts in either of the two groups, with one exc eption: institutional residents with existing contacts with former nei ghbors reported significantly lower levels of loneliness compared to i nstitutional residents without such contacts. Frequency of contacts wi th family and neighbors did not influence significantly the degree of loneliness for residents in institutions. For residents in the communi ty there were significant differences in experienced loneliness betwee n those who had frequent contacts with family members and neighbors an d those with infrequent contacts. Institutional residents, like reside nts in the community who desired more frequent contacts with family me mbers and friends, reported higher levels of loneliness, compared to t hose who reported sufficient contacts.