TY - JOUR
T1 - Unpaid productive activities and loneliness in later life: Results from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (2000-2014)
AU - Akhter Khan, Samia
AU - Chua, Kia-Chong
AU - Al Kindhi, Berlian
AU - Mayston, Rosie
AU - Prina, Matthew
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Jocelyn Olcott, Anne Allison, and Deborah Jenson from the Revaluing Care in the Global Economy Network at Duke University for thought-provoking comments and feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We also thank Vas Yiengprugsawan (University of New South Wales) for helpful advice on using IFLS data.
Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (recipient: Samia Akhter-Khan).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)
PY - 2023/2/1
Y1 - 2023/2/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141291068&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2022.104851
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2022.104851
M3 - Article
SN - 0167-4943
VL - 105
JO - ARCHIVES OF GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS
JF - ARCHIVES OF GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS
M1 - 104851
ER -