(1) Loneliness | (2) Social isolation | (3) Social network size | |
Care of grandchild: yes (reference category: no) | −0.05** (0.02) | −0.03 (0.02) | 0.98*** (0.10) |
Gender: female (reference category: male) | −0.13*** (0.02) | 0.00 (0.02) | 0.33*** (0.09) |
Age in years | −0.01*** (0.00) | −0.00*** (0.00) | −0.01* (0.01) |
Marital status: married and living together with spouse (reference category: other (married, living separated from spouse, divorced, widowed, single)) | −0.08*** (0.02) | −0.04† (0.02) | 0.64*** (0.10) |
Monthly net household income in Euros | −0.03*** (0.01) | −0.05*** (0.01) | 0.20*** (0.04) |
Body mass index | −0.00* (0.00) | −0.00 (0.00) | 0.01 (0.01) |
Physical activity: at least once a week (reference category: less than once a week) | 0.03† (0.02) | −0.04* (0.02) | 0.49*** (0.09) |
Self-rated health (1=very good to 5=very bad) | 0.02 (0.01) | 0.02 (0.01) | −0.24*** (0.06) |
Number of physical illnesses (0–11) | 0.02*** (0.01) | 0.03*** (0.01) | 0.10*** (0.03) |
Depressive symptoms | 0.02*** (0.00) | 0.03*** (0.00) | −0.01 (0.01) |
Constant | 2.38*** (0.10) | 1.76*** (0.12) | 4.35*** (0.53) |
Observations | 3793 | 3810 | 3866 |
R² | 0.13 | 0.14 | 0.08 |
Beta-coefficients are reported; robust standard errors in parentheses. Social isolation was measured using a scale by Bude and Lantermann (2006); values range from 1 to 4, with higher values reflecting higher perceived social isolation. Loneliness was measured using a short version (Gierveld and Van Tilburg, 2006) of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (Gierveldand Kamphuls,1985); values range from 1 to 4, with higher values reflecting higher perceived loneliness. Number of important people in regular contact ranges between 0 and 9. Depressive symptoms measured using the Centre for Epidemiological Depression Scale (CES-D), comprising 15 items (scores range from 0 to 45; higher scores refer to more severe depressive symptoms). In regression analysis, listwise deletion was used.
***p<0.001, **p<0.01, *p<0.05, †p<0.10.