Profiles of subjective health among people living alone: a latent class analysis
Background Living alone has increased globally and especially in Finland where 45% of all households are single occupancy. Epidemiological research has found that living alone a risk factor for a wide range of adversities related to quality of life but the rapidly-changing demographics of people liv...
Saved in:
Published in | BMC public health Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 1 - 1335 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
BioMed Central Ltd
07.07.2021
BioMed Central BMC |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | Background Living alone has increased globally and especially in Finland where 45% of all households are single occupancy. Epidemiological research has found that living alone a risk factor for a wide range of adversities related to quality of life but the rapidly-changing demographics of people living alone calls for a more detailed investigation of their subjective health status. Methods Using a cross-sectional survey sent for a random sample of Finnish residents in single-person households (n = 884), we explored with latent class analysis whether the respondents form different health profiles based on the three health dimensions defined by the World Health Organization: physical, social, and mental well-being. The identified groups were then compared in terms of demographic characteristics with the [chl].sup.2 test and quality of life using linear regression models. Sensitivity analyses were run using more refined, manual 3-step BCH method. Results Four distinct health profiles were found: Languishing (4%), Managing (35%), Healthy (30%), and Flourishing (31%). The groups differed in most socio-demographic aspects such as marital and employment status, but not in terms of geographic location or gender (apart from group Languishing that contained more men). Controlling for these socio-demographic differences, all groups showed different average levels of perceived quality of life to the expected direction. Conclusions Our findings suggest that people living alone are indeed a very heterogeneous group in terms of subjective health. Instead of seeing living alone as a mere risk for low quality of life, concept of living alone should be understood more broadly both in public discussion and scientific research. Keywords: Single occupancy households, Health status, Psychological well-being, Social life, Quality of life |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1471-2458 1471-2458 |
DOI: | 10.1186/s12889-021-11396-2 |