The characteristics of older people living with someone but registered as living alone on the basic resident register

Abstract

  The aim of the study was to examine the characteristics and psychological health of older people who were “nominally living alone”. The research targeted people who were living alone based on a basic resident register. Data were obtained from a survey of those living alone and of general households in Wako city, Saitama. We analyzed those respondents from a general household survey (n=2,644), who were termed nominally living alone, actually living alone, and living with others. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the likelihood of nominally living alone, and multiple comparison analysis was performed to clarify the differences of psychological health among the three groups. There were several major findings. 1) Marital status and years of residence were strongly associated with differences between nominally living alone and other living circumstances, even after sex, age, functional capacities and income were controlled. 2) Nominally living alone was not necessarily associated with social isolation, decline of higher-level functional capacities or lower-level income. 3) Elderly categorized as nominally living alone tended to have symptoms of depression and self-rated poor health, although they did not necessarily have anxieties about their future.