The Existence and Emotional Closeness of Relationships with Children, Friends, and Spouses

Based on a social support model, the authors analyzed the association between the experience of loneliness and the emotional closeness older persons have in their social relationships with their children, friends, and spouses. The effects on loneliness of age, sex, subjective health status, economic situation, need for attachment, and need for social integration were also examined and controlled. Results are based on 1,071 participants in the congregate and home-delivered meal programs of the Senior Citizens Nutrition and Activities Program in Hillsborough County, Florida. An analysis of covariance showed that the loneliness expressed by these older persons was related, not to variation in age, but to their gender, health status, and economic condition; their needs for affection and security, and desire to be part of a social network; and the existence, but not the emotional commitment, to a set of friends. Whether these persons had children or spouses or not, and if they had either, and were emotionally close or not, made no difference in their assessment of how lonely they felt. Theoretically, the results lend only partial support to the social support perspective.