Her and His Loneliness in Partnership. Dyadic Approach in Finding Determinants of Life Quality among Older Partners in Europe.

Milena Chelchowska , SGH Warsaw School of Economics

Life satisfaction / subjective well-being and its determinants are subject of increasing scientific interest. One of the key determinants of life quality is the fact of feeling lonely. The results of other studies show that loneliness is highly detrimental for personal health and well-being and its effects could be especially unpleasant for the elderly. The aim of this article is to analyze the determinants of life quality (expressed in terms of well-being and depression) in older people living in unions in Europe, with particular emphasis on the degree of loneliness. The study includes individual (e.g. age, sex, number of chronic diseases, level of education, caregiving), household (income) and couple (e.g. age difference, differences in loneliness, education) characteristics. Importantly, the analysis takes into account the dyadic approach as quality of life of spouses is interdependent. For the purposes of this study I use data of 7th wave of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement survey (SHARE) carried out in 2017 in 12 European countries. The final sample was limited to partnered older people aged 50+. The results show that older partnered men report higher levels of life quality than older partnered women do. Regional differences are visible in this regard, older partners in Western and Northern Europe report higher levels of life quality than spouses from Eastern and Central Europe. Additionally, older partners who more frequently feel lonely report lower quality of life. Moreover, within-couple difference of loneliness may negatively influence life quality.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe