Family relations and the experience of loneliness among older adults in Eastern Europe

In this paper I conceptualize and analyze the determinants of loneliness among older adults in Russia and Bulgaria, two former communist societies experiencing myriad and challenging transitions - economically, demographically, and socially. Using the Generations and Gender Survey (2004) I conduct an OLS regression analysis of loneliness among heads of household age 60 and older. I focus attention on family structural correlated of loneliness -specifically on how marital status, and the numbers and co-residence status of children and grandchildren relate to the experience of loneliness in late adulthood. The analyses reveal that in Russia and Bulgaria loneliness is quite commonplace, especially among elderly men, and rises with age. Loneliness is found to correlate positively not only with widowhood, small family size and limited extended family relations (i.e., those with grandchildren), but also with economic deprivation and poor health. The analysis also reveal that Russian and Bulgarian women express significantly less loneliness than their male counterparts; explanations for this gender gap are tied to men's and women's different orientations to the family and household in the post-Soviet era.