To explore the patterns of living arrangements, ethnicity and loneliness amongst older adults (aged 65+ years) living at home.
National interRAI-HC (International Residential Assessment Instrument-Home Care) assessments conducted between 1 September 2012 and 31 January 2016 were analysed. Analysis focused on the associations between loneliness and both ethnic groups and living arrangements.
There were 71 859 eligible participants, with average age 82.7 years, comprising Māori (5%), Pasifika (3%), Asian (2%) and European/Other (89%) ethnic identification. Most stated that they were not lonely (79%), but those living alone were more likely to be lonely (29%) than those living with others (14%) (P < 0.05). Amongst those living alone, significant differences in the likelihood of being lonely emerged between ethnic groups (P < 0.05).
Ethnic identification and living arrangements were significantly associated with the likelihood of loneliness for those having an interRAI-HC assessment. Efforts to reduce the negative impacts of loneliness need a nuanced approach.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 33. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 June 2025.
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#1,414,748
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Outputs from Australasian Journal on Ageing
#31
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#27,203
of 458,022 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Australasian Journal on Ageing
#1
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Altmetric has tracked 29,688,655 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 939 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 22 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
