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When seniors live alone, it doesn’t mean they are lonely
Research in Singapore shows that some can live by themselves and have active social lives. This has policy implications on addressing loneliness.
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Research shows that some seniors are ageing across places, where home functions as a base and not a boundary, says the writer.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Vincent Chua, Elaine Ho and Feng Chen-Chieh
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Living alone in later life is widely seen as a signal of social risk. It is a convenient marker: easy to identify, easy to count, easy to target. In policy discussions, the one-person household often stands in for loneliness itself.
While it may not cause immediate harm, this shorthand can quietly - and sometimes inaccurately - shape who gets noticed, who gets missed, and how support is delivered.
