Research Article

Living Alone, Cognitive Function, and Well-Being of Japanese Older Men and Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 1

Baseline characteristics, social support and social contact, and independent and dependent variables.

Men: n = 34,255Women: n = 41,056
Live alone, n = 6,338Live with others, n = 27,917 valueLive alone, n = 10,659Live with others, n = 30,397 value

Age in years, mean (SD)72.7 (6.0)73.8 (6.1)<0.00175.2 (6.0)73.3 (5.8)<0.001
Married, n (%)479 (8.3%)24630 (92.7%)<0.001357 (3.7%)21651 (74.4%)<0.001
Perceived economic status, good, n (%)4884 (90.3%)21,772 (88.5%)<0.0018,568 (90.2%)24,158 (88.2%)<0.001
Years of education, mean (SD)11.4 (3.1)11.7 (3.0)<0.00110.8 (2.5)11.1 (2.3)<0.001
Years of current residence, mean (SD)24.4 (19.5)35.5 (18.9)<0.00130.2 (18.5)34.6 (17.3)<0.001
Numbers of comorbidities, mean (SD)1.4 (1.1)1.4 (1.1)0.0061.5 (1.2)1.5 (1.1)<0.001
Motor function scale (0–14), mean (SD)10.6 (3.3)11.1 (3.2)<0.0019.9 (3.8)10.5 (3.6)<0.001
Regular appointments with primary care physician, n (%)5,023 (84.9%)24,341 (91.4%)<0.0019,389 (92.3%)27,345 (93.3%)<0.001
Reception of social support from others, n (%)4,051 (67.9%)21,954 (81.9%)<0.0019,069 (88.6%)27,118 (92.1%)<0.001
Provision of social support for others, n (%)3,406 (57.5%)20,409 (76.6%)<0.0017,765 (77.2%)24,457 (84.0%)<0.001
Possession of neighborhood ties, n (%)2,338 (41.2%)13,653 (52.7%)<0.0017,132 (74.0%)21,894 (77.6%)0.066
Regular visits to friends, n (%)2,181 (38.0%)10,509 (40.2%)<0.0015,779 (58.3%)16,307 (57.0%)0.066
Regular participation in group activities, n (%)2,374 (37.5%)13,955 (50.0%)<0.0015,944 (55.8%)16,802 (55.3%)0.43
Currently employed, n (%)1,815 (31.4%)12,077 (45.6%)<0.0012,403 (24.4%)10,429 (35.9%)<0.001
Self-administered dementia checklist (10–40), mean (SD)12.4 (2.8)12.8 (3.2)<0.00112.5 (2.7)12.5 (2.9)0.21
WHO-5 Well-Being Index (0–15), mean (SD)9.1 (3.8)10.2 (3.4)<0.0019.9 (3.6)10.1 (3.5)<0.001

values were calculated from chi-squared test for categorical variables and two-sample t-test for numerical variables.