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Social Sciences
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Mental Health and Wellbeing in Elderly People: The Forgotten Loneliness
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Mental Health and Wellbeing in Elderly People: The Forgotten Loneliness

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 561

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Philip Tyson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, Applied Psychology Research and Innovation Group, Treforest Campus, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK
Interests: health and housing
Dr. Daniel Bowers

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, Applied Psychology Research and Innovation Group, Treforest Campus, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK
Interests: health and housing
Dr. Klara Price

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, Applied Psychology Research and Innovation Group, Treforest Campus, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK
Interests: health and housing
Dr. Alexis Jones

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, Applied Psychology Research and Innovation Group, Treforest Campus, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK
Interests: health and housing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that by 2050, there will be twice the number of people aged over 60 year (2.1 billion) and three times the number who are aged over 80 years (426 million). Despite this increasing life expectancy, there has been no significant improvement in healthy life expectancy, meaning that the population of those living with poor health, comorbidity and disability will also rise. A particular issue which negatively impacts the health and well-being of the elderly is loneliness, and this often stems from the death of a partner, the lack of a geographically close family, withdrawal from social circles or the transition to supported accommodation. Furthermore, the issue of loneliness and social isolation is more apparent in the male elderly population compared to the female population. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research which has focused on understanding the causes and consequences of elderly loneliness, and similarly, few empirical investigations have looked at a solution to this problem.

The focus of this Special Issue is to draw together recent quantitative and qualitative research to investigate not only the impact of loneliness on the mental health and well-being of the elderly population, but also look for solutions and examples of good practice which can be shared.

Dr. Philip Tyson
Dr. Daniel Bowers
Dr. Klara Price
Dr. Alexis Jones
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • elderly
  • aged populations
  • loneliness
  • mental health
  • well-being

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 578 KiB  
Article
Loneliness, Protective/Risk Factors, and Coping Strategies Among Older Adults: A Transnational Qualitative Approach
by Paula Andrea Fernández-Dávila, Joan Casas-Martí and Lorena Patricia Gallardo-Peralta
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(4), 251; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14040251 - 21 Apr 2025
Viewed by 220
Abstract
The experience of loneliness in old age has gained relevance for social gerontology due to its association with the adverse biopsychosocial health status of the elderly, significantly impacting quality of life in old age. Therefore, the objective of this study was to understand [...] Read more.
The experience of loneliness in old age has gained relevance for social gerontology due to its association with the adverse biopsychosocial health status of the elderly, significantly impacting quality of life in old age. Therefore, the objective of this study was to understand the experiences of loneliness, analysing the perception of its risk and protective factors, as well as the coping strategies used by older people in Chile and Spain, through a transnational qualitative approach, with a view to identifying the influence of cultural variables in the presence of this problem. This research was a descriptive study which used qualitative methodologies for data collection and analysis. The research participants were 30 older people of both sexes who participated in a semi-structured interview about their experiences of loneliness. The main results showed that loneliness in old age was experienced as an emotional disconnection and lack of intimacy and company, mainly in family relationships. Among the most prominent risk factors were old age, gender roles, widowhood, economic limitations, and loss of autonomy. Protective factors included active social participation, religious practice, and participation in meaningful social activities. As for coping strategies, these ranged from strengthening relationships to using digital tools and accepting loneliness as part of life. The findings of this study underline the importance of designing interventions focused on social inclusion and subjective well-being in old age, which contribute to preventing the experience of loneliness at this stage of the life cycle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mental Health and Wellbeing in Elderly People: The Forgotten Loneliness)
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