Gender and age-specific loneliness

Context and relevance. In the modern world, loneliness is becoming a socially significant problem faced by a large part of the population. Attempts are being made to study the possible causes and consequences of loneliness, which show its close connection with physical and mental health, as well as with the changing format of many types of activity in a digital society. Objective. To analyze modern international studies that reveal the age and gender specifics of experiencing loneliness in the context of ongoing social changes. Methods and materials. Search for and review scientific publications by foreign authors covering the range of modern research on loneliness, including cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Results. It is shown that, for the most part researchers are interested in the manifestations of loneliness of young and elderly people, while the works of different authors provide very contradictory data indicating either an increase, a decrease, or an uneven degree of loneliness during age-related ontogenesis. Data are presented indicating the ambiguity of the relationship between loneliness experiences and digital activity of an individual, depending on age: direct at a young age and reverse in old age. Regarding the gender specifics of loneliness, the picture is also ambiguous: it has been found that loneliness is mainly faced by women, in others studies, on the contrary, loneliness is more typical for men, whereas according to a number of authors, the subjective loneliness of women and men has practically no differences. Conclusions. Conclusions are drawn about the fragmentation and inconsistency of data on the gender and age characteristics of experiencing loneliness. It is emphasized that foreign authors place special emphasis on its negative aspects when studying loneliness, whereas its positive role in recent years has remained practically outside the sphere of their scientific interests. The prospects of studying the phenomenon in the context of modern global challenges are also described. Keywords: subjective loneliness, objective loneliness, age-specific loneliness, gender-specific loneliness, digital activity

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