Underreporting loneliness among older adults: the role of gender, health, partner status, and migration background

Previous research suggests that people belonging to social categories not typically associated with loneliness are less likely to admit feeling lonely. Drawing upon this research, we hypothesized that men, those in good health, partnered individuals, and migrants are less likely to admit feeling lonely than women, those in poor health, single individuals, and non-migrants, respectively. Using data from Dutch, Moroccan, and Turkish individuals aged between 55 and 66 years in the Netherlands (N = 1,383), we examined this by assessing respondents’ reported loneliness on direct measurements of loneliness while controlling for an indirect measurement of loneliness. Findings showed that men, those in good health, and partnered individuals were less likely to admit feeling lonely when asked directly than women, those in poor health, and single individuals. Migrants were less likely to admit loneliness on the direct measurement than non-migrants, but only when they had a high score on the indirect measurement of loneliness. We recommend future studies to be cautious when using direct loneliness measurements, and professionals to be aware of the tendency of specific groups to underreport loneliness.