Chapters authored
Social Connectedness and Wellbeing of Ageing Populations in Small Islands
This chapter presents the findings relating to social connectedness and isolation from a sample survey of the 393 older people aged 65+ years in an island context, the Maldives, where families are often dispersed across many islands due to the nation’s particular geo-spatial features. Maldivian society while traditionally collectivist, is currently showing effects of modern development on its social structures and values. Against this background, the life domain of social connectedness and social isolation is conceptualized. Although operationalized to include the community, the findings stress the importance of family and friends, rather than the community, in providing social connectedness. There is an indication that family and friends provide experiences that differ emotionally and that varied composition of social networks provide different experiences for social connectedness. Factors within this life domain demonstrate specific aspects of social connectedness in the small island context in contrast to industrialized country contexts.
Part of the book: Social Isolation