Living Alone In Later Life

More people are living alone today in Britain than at any other time. The 2001 Census reveals that across the UK one-person households now make up 30.3% (7.4 million) of the total - up from 26.3% in 1991.

In this report, Jim Ogg examines this phenomenon to determine whether the experience of living alone in later life and the way in which social relationships are organised is significantly different than in the past. Central to this aim is an analysis of how the different pathways to living alone, through widowhood, separation, divorce and remaining single, influence the social relationships of men and women in different age cohorts.

In this manner, Jim Ogg explores questions such as:

• What were the characteristics of older one person households in the 1990s?
• Were such households formed in ways that are different from the past?
• Is there evidence that recent social change has created a fundamentally new experience of living alone in later life?
• Does living alone reflect weakening social ties?
• Are middle-aged adults living alone more likely to show lifestyles that are radically different form those of older adults?
• What are the opportunities and constraints of living alone in advanced old age?

Through detailed analyses of the data, the book outlines the challenges posed by this modern form of living arrangement for future generations, and offers new hypotheses concerning how social support will be accessed by future cohorts of older people living alone.