Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Elderly men more vulnerable to depression than women when living alone
A study finds elderly men are more likely to feel lonely and depressed than women, which could lead them to have suicidal thoughts. /Korea Times file
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Elderly men are more likely to feel lonely and depressed, and have suicidal thoughts than elderly women when living alone, a study showed, Tuesday.
According to the study conducted by a research team at Seoul National University (SNU) College of Nursing, men's average level of feeling loneliness was 44.5 points out of 80, higher than women's 40.7. Men also showed worse depressive states with an average 6.3 points out of 15, compared to women with 4.5.
For the study, the research team conducted in-depth interviews for three months from last August with 1,023 elderly citizens (796 women and 227 men) aged over 65 who were living alone in Gyeonggi Province. The study was published in the latest issue of Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics journal.
The loneliness and depressive symptoms were highly related to suicidal thoughts, as 11.5 percent of the elderly men had attempted to kill themselves, higher than the 8.5 percent of elderly women.
Professor Park Yeon-hwan, who led the study, said in the report that central and local governments should provide gender-tailored services in supporting the elderly.
“Men living alone are more likely to have difficulty in preparing food and doing housework, and are more passive in seeking help from regional welfare centers. This can raise their level of loneliness and depression and eventually lead to suicidal thoughts,” Park said.
However, Park said elderly women are more likely to have financial difficulties and poor physical condition than men, so the services for elderly women need to be more focused on improving the residential environment and helping mobility.
In Korea, people over 65 years old made up 13.8 percent of the total population in 2017, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Statistics Korea.