Loneliness, Social Support and Family Function among Elderly Korean Women

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among social support (network and satisfaction), family function, and loneliness among elderly Korean women. A sample of 68 elderly Korean women, who were at least 60 years of age and lived in Seoul, Korea, was obtained. Data were collected by interview, using the translated Korean versions of the Revised University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (RULS), Family APGAR, and Social Support Questionnaire 6. The results indicate that the subjects were moderately lonely (M = 45.04) and had moderately functional families (M = 5.60). The means for social support were 1.37 for network size and 4.17 for satisfaction. Twenty-one percent of the subjects lived with their spouses. The subjects who lived with their spouse had a larger number of network members than those who did not live with their spouse (t = −0.26, P < 0.05). However, living with their spouse was not found to be associated with their social support satisfaction and family function. The level of loneliness was found to be related negatively to the level of social support network (r = −0.41, P < 0.01), social support satisfaction (r = −0.43, P < 0.01), and family function (r = −0.58, P < 0.01). Thirty-four percent of the variance in their loneliness was accounted for by their social support and family function. Family function was found to be the significant predictor of loneliness. Subjects who had a lower level of family function were found to be more lonely than those who had a higher level of family function (β = −0.39, P < 0.01).