Research on Aging 

About: Research on Aging is an academic journal published by SAGE Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Medicine. It has an ISSN identifier of 0164-0275. Over the lifetime, 1393 publications have been published receiving 55607 citations. The journal is also known as: ROA.

A Short Scale for Measuring Loneliness in Large Surveys: Results From Two Population-Based Studies.

Abstract: Most studies of social relationships in later life focus on the amount of social contact, not on individuals' perceptions of social isolation. However, loneliness is likely to be an important aspect of aging. A major limiting factor in studying loneliness has been the lack of a measure suitable for large-scale social surveys. This article describes a short loneliness scale developed specifically for use on a telephone survey. The scale has three items and a simplified set of response categories but appears to measure overall loneliness quite well. The authors also document the relationship between loneliness and several commonly used measures of objective social isolation. As expected, they find that objective and subjective isolation are related. However, the relationship is relatively modest, indicating that the quantitative and qualitative aspects of social relationships are distinct. This result suggests the importance of studying both dimensions of social relationships in the aging process.

A 6-Item Scale for Overall, Emotional, and Social Loneliness: Confirmatory Tests on Survey Data

Abstract: Loneliness is an indicator of social well-being and pertains to the feeling of missing an intimate relationship (emotional loneliness) or missing a wider social network (social loneliness). The 11-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale has proved to be a valid and reliable measurement instrument for overall, emotional, and social loneliness, although its length has sometimes rendered it difficult to use in large surveys. In this study, the authors empirically tested a shortened version of the scale on data from two surveys (N = 9,448). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the specification of two latent factors. Congruent validity and the relationship with determinants (partner status, health) proved to be optimal. The 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale is a reliable and valid measurement instrument for overall, emotional, and social loneliness that is suitable for large surveys.

Measuring multiple dimensions of religion and spirituality for health research: Conceptual background and findings from the 1998 General Social Survey

Abstract: Progress in studying the relationship between religion and health has been hampered by the absence of an adequate measure of religiousness and spirituality. This article reports on the conceptual and empirical development of an instrument to measure religiousness and spirituality, intended explicitly for studies of health. It is multidimensional to allow investigation of multiple possible mechanisms of effect, brief enough to be included in clinical or epidemiological surveys, inclusive of both traditional religiousness and noninstitutionally based spirituality, and appropriate for diverse Judeo-Christian populations. The measure may be particularly useful for studies of health in elderly populations in which religious involvement is higher. The measure was tested in the nationally representative 1998 General Social Survey (N = 1,445). Nine dimensions have indices with moderate-to-good internal consistency, and there are three single-item domains. Analysis by age and sex shows that elderly respondents rep...

Neighbors and Friends An Overlooked Resource in the Informal Support System

Abstract: This research presents empirical findings concerning the extent to which older people in the inner city neighborhoods of New York City have an informal network of friends and neighbors and the nature of the interactions which occur. The characteristics associated with individuals possessing extensive friend-neighbor networks are discussed, and the preferences of older people for assistance from kin versus nonkin in a variety of situations are explored. Several theoretical models concerning the operation of the informal support system are considered, and the author postulates a new model—the hierarchical-compensatory model-as best fitting the empirical data at hand. The findings are from the largest cross-cultural study of the elderly in urban poverty, The Elderly in the Inner City of New York with an N of 1,552, including 49% white, 37% black, and 13% Hispanic elderly.