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[Social support availability and psychological well-being among the socially isolated elderly. Differences by living arrangement and gender].

OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to clarify: a) what kind of problems isolated elderly tend to have in everyday life and in psychological well-being; and b) how these vary with living arrangement and gender, with social isolation as defined as low frequency of contact with people other than cohabitant family.


METHODS
Data were extracted from the social survey for the non-institutionalized elderly aged 65 and over. The study population consisted of 948 individuals living alone and 1,426 living with others. Social isolation status was categorized into "having face-to-face contact", "non face-to-face contact only", and "no contact (i.e., isolation)" based on whether respondents had contact at least once a week with anyone, including kin living apart, friends and neighbors. Through logistic regression analyses, main and interaction effects of social isolation, living alone and gender were examined controlling for age, IADL and socio-economic status regarding the following dependent variables: Availability of informal support (6 items), formal support availability (2 items), depressive symptoms, and concerns for the future.


RESULTS
Forty-two percent of males living alone were categorized as isolated, showing a remarkable difference from females living alone (17%). Odds ratios for "no contact (isolation)" to "face-to-face contact" were significantly larger than 1 for all dependent variables, meaning isolated elderly were less likely to have all types of informal support, advisors for public services and awareness of comprehensive support centers, were more likely to be depressive and have high concerns for the future. An interaction effect between isolation and living alone was significant for informal support, which suggested that the combination of these factors was more likely to lead to a higher risk of unavailability of informal support. Living alone showed an independent (main) effect on limited variables such as a few types of informal support and depressive symptoms.


CONCLUSION
Socially isolated elderly are less likely to be able to receive informal/formal support and are more likely to be depressive and concerned about the future, whether or not they live alone or with family. The results showed many problems to exist in everyday life and psychological well-being.