Social integration and loneliness: A comparative study among older adults in the Netherlands and Tuscany, Italy

On the average, older adults in Italy are lonelier than those in the Netherlands. The results of a study by Jylha & Jokela (1990) showed that loneliness was more prevalent in regions of Europe where living alone was rarest and where community bonds were strongest. This inverse macro-level association, an increasing proportion of lonely older people and a decreasing proportion of older people who live alone from northern to southern Europe, could not be explained by differences in individual social integration. The aim of the present study was to reinvestigate this association. The data were from surveys conducted in the Netherlands (N = 3750) and northwestern Tuscany, Italy (N = 1543). Fewer older adults lived alone in Tuscany than in the Netherlands, which indicates that the Dutch were less integrated. As regards their participation in social organizations and personal networks, the Tuscan older adults were less integrated. To a large extent, loneliness among the Dutch and Tuscans based on differences in social integration could be similarly explained, and regional loneliness differences could be attributed to individual situations and characteristics.