What causes loneliness among household heads: a study based in primary setting in Mumbai, India

With the pace of urbanization, symptoms of loneliness emerge as one of the most devastating mental illnesses among city dwellers in the modern age. The present study has tried to identify the potential factors and correlates which affect loneliness vulnerability.

The data for this study were collected from three different areas of Mumbai (i.e., Dadar, Bandra, and Chembur).This study was conducted through a cross-sectional household survey of household heads in the five different housing typologies/ localities between January and June 2016.A total of 450 household data were collected using the quota sampling method. Loneliness was the main dependent variable. The bivariate analysis was used to see the percentage of loneliness among respondents. Bivariate analysis for categorical data was carried out using the chi-square (χ²) test. Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the correlates of loneliness among household heads. The probability of significance was set at 5%.

It was found that around 7 percent of respondents often feel lonely, and 21 percent of respondents sometimes feel lonely in the last seven days preceding the survey date. Household heads with two or more chronic diseases had higher odds (OR = 4.87, CI = 1.52-15.57) of loneliness than household heads without any chronic disease. The odds of loneliness were almost 3 times higher (OR = 3.05; CI = 1.11-8.38) among females as compared to males. Household heads living alone (single) had higher odds (OR = 19.99; CI = 4.14-96.59) to suffer from loneliness than those living in a joint family.

Finding reveals that level of loneliness symptomatology in urban dwellers may be attributed significantly by individual (i.e., morbidity status and sex of respondent), social (i.e., personal relation) and residing locality characteristics. Community psychological intervention along with enhanced civic engagement can reduce level of loneliness in existing slum rehabilitees.