Social Isolation among Single Elderly Persons Living Alone Bindu Madhurima1 University School of Open Learning, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjab 1RMIT University, Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab Online published on 10 September, 2021. Abstract The present paper focuses on the single elderly who are living alone for less than 10 years to more than 20 years, without any family member or relatives. 180 single elderly, age varying from 60 years to 80 years and above, living alone in Chandigarh were selected with the help of snowball method. The single elderly belonged to three different categories, i.e. widowed, divorced, and never married. The number of respondents in each category was 60, i.e. 30 males and 30 females. Interview Schedule was used to collect information. To measure social isolation a scale inspired by Lubben et al., (2006) Social Network Scale (LSNS) consisting of 14 statements was constructed. It was found that most of the respondents felt moderate isolation (49.4%), and no significant difference in the feeling of isolation was found in widowed, divorced, and never married subjects. Age also does not play its role in social isolation, but a significant difference in social isolation was found in the elderly belonging to different social classes. The majority of respondents (49.1%) belonging to the lower social class felt completely isolated. Similarly, the majority of respondents (85.7%) having non-cordial relations with children reported complete isolation. A significant difference was also found between social isolation and the duration of living alone of the respondents. Top Keywords Social Isolation, Single, Elderly, Living alone.. Top |