Offspring and later-life loneliness in Eastern and Western Europe

Abstract: Later-life loneliness is increasingly recognized as an important public health issue. In this study, we examine whether having more children and grandchildren is protective against later life loneliness in a group of Eastern and Western European countries. Drawing on data from the Generation and Gender Surveys, we estimated logistic regression models of the likelihood of being lonely among men and women aged 65 and older. The results showed a negative association between number of children and loneliness among men and women in both Eastern-European and Western-European countries. A mediation analysis performed using the KHB decomposition method showed that grandparenthood status partly explained differences in the loneliness risks of childless women, mothers with one child and those with two or more children. Among men, the mediating role of grandparenthood was significant in Eastern Europe and marginally significant in Western countries. Given the relatively strong reliance of old

Object Details

• Alternative title: Nachkommenschaft und Einsamkeit im Alter in Ost- und Westeuropa
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: Zeitschrift für Familienforschung ; 31 (2019) 2 ; 199-215

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (who): SSOAR - Social Science Open Access Repository
• (when): 2019
• Creator: Broek, Thijs van den ; Tosi, Marco ; Grundy, Emily

Further information

• DOI: 10.3224/zff.v31i2.05
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-64666-2
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:44 PM CET