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Unpaid productive activities and loneliness in later life: Results from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (2000–2014)

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Matthew Prina

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2022 The Author(s). Introduction: Contributing to society constitutes an essential part of healthy ageing. To date, however, it remains unclear how valuable contributions such as caregiving and volunteering, also described as unpaid productive activities, are related to older adults’ loneliness. The present longitudinal study addresses this question in a lower-middle-income country, in Indonesia. Methods: Using data from two waves of the nationally representative Indonesian Family Life Survey (2000–2014), logistic regression models were applied with caregiving (to non-resident children, siblings, and parents) and volunteering (1–99 h, >100 h per year) as predictors and loneliness as outcome. Participants who were <50 years old and felt lonely at baseline were excluded. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Of the 3,572 participants (52.8% women; Mean age: 60 years), 538 (15.1%) developed loneliness. In the unadjusted model, volunteering 1–99 h per year and caregiving to parents were each associated with a lower likelihood of feeling lonely later in life. For moderate volunteering (1–99 h), participating in the volunteer decision-making process was beneficial for loneliness. After adjusting for covariates, only the association between caregiving to parents and loneliness remained significant (OR=0.48, 95%CI: 0.27–0.81, p = 0.01). Specifically, providing care to parents who did not need help with daily activities was associated with lower loneliness. Conclusion: This longitudinal study addresses important research gaps in the literature on global healthy ageing, as it relates to the protective role of older adults’ unpaid productive activities on loneliness in Indonesia.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Akhter-Khan SC, Chua K-C, Al Kindhi B, Mayston R, Prina M

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics

Year: 2023

Volume: 105

Print publication date: 01/02/2023

Online publication date: 31/10/2022

Acceptance date: 29/10/2022

Date deposited: 26/06/2023

ISSN (print): 0167-4943

ISSN (electronic): 1872-6976

Publisher: Elsevier Ireland Ltd

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2022.104851

DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2022.104851

PubMed id: 36343441


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