Lintgration sociale des personnes ges

1

• Lintégration sociale des personnes âgées/
• Social integration of the elderly

Jenny De Jong Gierveld1,2 1Netherlands
Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI),
2Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit,
Amsterdam Paper XXV International Population
Conference, European Population Day, Round Table
The living conditions of the elderly. Tours, July
18-23, 2005.
2

• Jeremy Rifkin (2004)
• Americans ? wealth
• self- reliant
• an island to oneself
• Europeans ? social integration
• embeddedness in communities

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• Social integration Participation in a varied
  set of bonds/ society
• Family bonds
• Intergenerational exchanges
• But also
• Participation in groups (church, volunteer work)
• Neighborhood
• Social characteristics of society

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In addition, we need to know the evaluation of
these bonds

• Do older people feel embedded or
• do they feel lonely?

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Definition of loneliness

• the unpleasant experience that occurs when a
  persons network of social relationships is
  deficient in some important way, either
  quantitatively or qualitatively.
• The opposite of loneliness is embeddedness.
• De Jong Gierveld, J. (1987, 1998).

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• Loneliness scale De Jong Gierveld
• 11 items
• Range
• 0 not lonely
• to
• 11 ultimately lonely

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Most important determinants of loneliness

• Partner status/ marital status
• Kin
• Non-kin
• Size and overall composition network
• Increasing neighborhood inequalities
• Social welfare regime types

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Comparison England the Netherlands

• England inner cities of Birmingham
• Liverpool
• London
• The Netherlands older adults from all types
• of neighborhoods and regions
• (Nestor-LSN/LASA)

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10

11

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Potential explanations

• Socioeconomic context of neigborhoods in both
  countries
• Welfare state regimes differing in both countries

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What has to be done to guarantee social
integration of the elderly?

• The initiative is in the hands of local
  national policy makers to guarantee resources for
  older peoples participation, integration and
  embeddedness in society.

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• Older people are needed
• as full participants in society
• Thank you