Last week, I shared that I feared growing older and experiencing poverty and loneliness. The following passage is from my Week 1 post:
“Because of my family’s socioeconomic status, I am afraid of experiencing poverty, loneliness, and isolation in my later life. I fear poverty, because I’ve seen how big a difference money makes in people’s later lives, particularly having it throughout the life course, but also in later life. Money means access resources and preventative care. Money is not everything, but it can provide safety, comfort, and choices. I am a bit of an introvert, and I do not want kids, so I fear that I could experience loneliness or isolation if I do not have strong social support. My plan to avoid this is to stay close to those nieces! I’m open to the idea of senior centers, if I live in an area where I can access one at that point in my life.”
Poverty and loneliness are not issues that are isolated to older adults, but they are prevalent among older ages, and they can exacerbate health issues and resource attainment. If I were to experience poverty as an older adult, then I would potentially experience food insecurity, limited health access, and stress from worrying about expenses. Older women are more likely to live alone and people with lower incomes are statistically more likely to experience loneliness.
Both of my grandmothers lived in poverty during their lifetimes, so I have seen how their access to preventative health care was impacted. My family’s experiences have shaped my fear of financial instability. My grandmother’s ability to socialize are limited by her ability to get around the city in which she lives—she gave up driving years ago, she is not mobile enough to walk to the bus stop and the metro, and cab fare adds up. My grandmother has been very social throughout her life, she’s never met a stranger, so not being able to get out of her assisted living facility unless someone picks her up is limiting and far from ideal for her. My fear of loneliness and isolation come from my studies in gerontology and knowing how bad it is for the health of older adults.
My ideal life as an older adult would consist of being active enough to be able to volunteer or work part time. I don’t want to be in a position where I have to work because I am not financially stable enough to retire, but I think I would enjoy staying busy, otherwise I’ll watch TV until the end of time. I want to have meaningful social relationships with my family and friends, and I hope to have the health and resources necessary to visit them. I would like to have relationships with my neighbors and potentially attend senior centers, so that I may be part of a community.
If I were to experience poverty and isolation, then I will have limited access to preventative health care, nutritional food, medication, and other vital needs. In addition, I may lack the funds and transportation resources necessary to engage in face-to-face contact with friends, especially my family living out of state. I may not be able to participate in activities with my friends because I do not have the funds to go on vacation with them or even have dinners. If I am lacking a robust social support system, then I may not have friends and family who can help me overcome barriers to access and resources.
According to the CARA model, if I have accumulated enough resources and can manage stress events, then I will have the generalized resistance resources that can facilitate optimal aging. In the context of poverty and loneliness, my individual capital that I’ve gained as a millennial growing up with the internet and the ability to seek out information may help me assess programs and resources available to older adults experiencing poverty or loneliness. Furthermore, my education will serve as a resource that can aid me in navigating the aging services network. Of course, I will not be an older adult technically speaking for another 25 years, so I will need to stay engaged in the meantime. As I mentioned, I would like to be involved in my community, potentially a senior center, which could contribute to social capital. Effective senior centers can help to spread awareness and overcome barriers that older adults face. My goal to continue working or volunteering should keep me socially connected but also provide some purpose in my life. I do not believe poverty, or loneliness necessarily, is an individual problem, but people who have enough resources can cope with the situation and prove to be resilient.
In Gonyea et al.’s (2018) study set out to determine if there was a prevalence of loneliness and depression among older adults living in subsidized housing in an urban area. According to the authors, it has already been established that Black and Latino older adults are more likely than their white peers to experience poverty and disability, and depression is associated with older adults experiencing low-income and disability (Gonyea et al., 2018). However, depression and loneliness among older adults living in public housing have yet to be explored. It is important to explore this topic because depression in older adults is associated with poorer health and quality of life, as well as shorter life expectancy—and these outcomes are already associated with these populations. Furthermore, prior studies have shown that environment, such as subsidized housing, can play a role in mental health of older adults.
The study consisted of interviews with older adults over the age of 55. Just over half of the participants identified as Black, and nearly half identified as Latino, 73% were women, and 4 out of 5 participants were single (Gonyea et al., 2018). The interviews were utilized to collect quantitative variables consisting of depression, loneliness, stress, and health. Depression was assessed using the CED-D 10 item scale, loneliness was measured using the UCLA 8-item scale (RULS-8), stress was rated using a 5-point Likert scale, and health variables were collected using various self-score items.
Gonyea et al. (2018) found that loneliness was associated with depression among the participants. In addition, perceived poor health and stress were associated with depression. The authors point to the importance of economic resources and health in the perception of loneliness among older adults; in this study, more than a third of the participants associated loneliness with aging. In fact, of the participants who scored as depressed, half of them also scored as experiencing loneliness. This study adds to the research exploring how disadvantage, inequity, and discrimination over the life course can impact the social and mental health of older adults.
References
Gonyea, J. G., Curley, A., Melekis, K., Levine, N., & Lee, Y. (2018). Loneliness and depression among older adults in urban subsidized housing. Journal of Aging and Health, 30(3), 458–474. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264316682908
This was a great read. Dementia was a common disease and fear I read in a lot of our classmate’s post, so I was looking for a post that was different and I found this one. Experiencing poverty and loneliness is a big deal at all ages but I can only imagine how hard it would be as an older adult. The loneliness could be due to losing other family members to death, distance or wanting to be alone. Poverty comes with so many different concerns and lack of possible health and resources and being older and having to deal with these concerns would be hard. Not understanding why, the resources aren’t available, feeling like they worked their entire lives and are at least owed health insurance or the money they work for. Loneliness and poverty cause different type of emotions on their own and dealing with them together at an age where life is not so easy would definitely give depression of some sort. I loved reading and learning from your post Awesome.
Tina,
Really nice job with this post. We don’t talk enough about the relationship between poverty and loneliness. It is clear that access to services, activities, resources and people all play a role in strong physical and mental health. The reality is that income and other resources (or lack thereof) are either roads to that access (or barriers). In dealing with my brother’s situation these last few weeks, I am accutely aware of the importance of resources and how they change your options.
But you are also correct that people are another resource. One of the podcasts we will be hearing this semester is where we talk about how people without money have learned to build villages of support. I work with a group of lower income older adults, and I find that I have to be careful about my assumptions that they all must be depressed. They are challenges, for sure, and they face limitations. But I have frequently found them to be quite positive and to have a significant village of support.
I’m not trying to be pollyannaish, but I have also learnedt to be careful about my assumptions about the lack of financial resources and the direct links to depression.
Really good discussion and use of the article. I thought this was very interesting. Even though they discuss the fact that loneliness seemed to explain the variance in depression scores – they still didn’t draw causal relationships. They also admit this is one low income housing setting in one urban location. And it is important to note that this was almost 10 years ago.
There has been additional research done on this issue during and after the pandemic. I think the hardest part about this issue is that it is difficult to pull apart the variables. Poverty creates loneliness (lack of transportation here in Atlanta, for instance) which creates depression. And then there is the addition of cell phones and other technology.
It’s an interesting question and one I have tried to read about myself. I am very interested in the impact of COVID on these variables as well. I think the positive side of this – there are lots and lots of things you can do pro-actively to invluence your own aging experience.
Good discussion.
Dr P