A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LONELINESS AMONG AGED RESIDING IN OLD AGE HOMES AND WITH THEIR FAMILIES IN TERMS OF THEIR SPOUSE SURVIVAL STATUS AND GENDER

Present study is intended to inquire the commonness of Loneliness among the Aged over the age of 60 years, in relation to their Residing Status, Spouse Survival Status and Gender. Considering the nature of the objectives, convenient sample of 240 Old Aged individuals equally from both Old Age Homes as well as living with their respective Families was taken. Psychological measure administered was the UCLA Loneliness Scale by Russell. D., et al (1978), revised in 1980 and further in 1996. t- test and ANOVA were run for the analysis of data through SPSS. Results obtained indicates that females irrespective of residing status and the spouse survival status displayed greater loneliness in comparison to males. In terms of residing status, aged residing in the old age homes displayed greater level of loneliness in comparison to the ones who were residing with family members in their respective family environment. The comparison in context of spouse survival status showed that the aged who were living alone had greater loneliness in comparison to their counterparts of the ones living with their spouse.