Social isolation of the elderly

Name(s): 
Isolated senior citizens
Isolated non-participating elders in urban environments
Preclusion of elders' participation by image
Incidence 
Isolating elders in retirement homes places them in a static relationship to society. The individual is forced to operate out of a reduced context, his capacity to function in society is limited. The elder's role becomes irrelevant perpetuating the need for isolation. There is strong evidence that senility sets in sooner and faster with limited physical and intellectual stimulation.

In the European Union, 28% of those aged between 65 and 79 were living on their own in 1995. The proportion rose to 45% in the case of those aged 80 and over.

Broader 
Social isolation
Social withdrawal of aged
Fragmentation of social structures in depressed areas
Narrower 
Loneliness in old age
Related 
Abusive treatment of the aged
Isolating social forms inhibiting ethical relations
Aggravates 
Substance abuse by the elderly [in 3 loops]
Disorientation of youth in a culturally turbulent environment [in 6 loops]
Aggravated by 
Urinary incontinence
Disobedience of elders
Shrinking community life
Mental disorders of the aged
Inadequate income in old age
Decline of the extended family
Inadequate housing for the aged
Overtrafficked residential streets
Obsolescence of rituals and customs
Diffusion of family role expectations
Unmeaningful social roles for the aged
Neglect of elderly in institutional care
Inadequate welfare services for the aged
Susceptibility of the old to physical ill-health
Slowness of sensori-motor activities in the aged
Restrictive patterns of tradition-bound lifestyle
Insufficient possibilities for gathering of elders
Collapse in the meaning of participating in society
Strategy(ies) 
Isolating socially
Breaking down social isolation of the elderly
Type 
(D) Detailed problems