depression in isolation

Depression in Isolation
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Abstract
Depression is a major psychological challenge affecting both young and old. Experts define depression as a mental condition that makes victims feel depressed, have low moods, low enthusiasm about life coupled with the lack of focus. Equally, there are many factors that may lead to depression, such as hormonal imbalance, tragic events in life and one’s way of thinking. However, other factors such as being isolated have been found to contribute to depression. Many people may find themselves lonely due to their lifestyle, ill health, old age and much more.
Method
In my quest to understand the relationship between isolation and depression I undertook to analyze two peer-reviewed journals that have published studies on the link between isolation and depression. One of the journals is entitled “Social isolation, loneliness, and depression in young adulthood: a behavioral genetic analysis.” As the title suggests, it explores the relationship between isolation and depression and how genetics may have influenced such condition. The another journal is entitled “Loneliness, depression, and sociability in old age.” It shows how the elderly are vulnerable to depression due to social isolation. Both journals show that isolation is a major cause of depression.
Study # 1
Method
Respondents were drawn from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) group which follows up on the growth of a birth group of 2232 British minors. Most of the minors who participated in this study were twins born in Wales and England in mid-1990s.

1116 families which accounted for 93% of the target participants took part in the study. The researchers were keen to ensure that the study cohort comprised of people from a various socio-economic background in the United Kingdom. Follow-up studies were carried out when the participants were aged 7 of which results for 98% of the participants were recorded. Another follow-up study was carried when the participants were aged 10 and results for 96% of the total cohort were recorded. The follow-up surveys were also carried when the participants were aged 12 and 18 of which results for 96% and 93% of the total cohort were recorded respectively.
The researchers found no difference between participants whose results were recorded and those whose results were not recorded at age 18 regarding their socio-economic status. The results were recorded when the target group was originally described as (χ2 = 0.86, p = 0.65). Follow-up studies between ages 5 and 12 involved assessments with respondents and their caregivers. At age 18, the assessments involved only the respondents, and each twin respondent was interviewed by a different research agent. The study measured social isolation using the MSPSS scale that measures a person’s access to helpful relationships with a next of kin and friends. Due to the young age of the respondents, the study utilized minimal social support to quantify social isolation and factors such as marital status were disregarded. The researchers also applied four items while measuring emotional state of loneliness available on the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Depression symptoms were measured by utilizing the “Diagnostic Interview Schedule.” This was achieved through a series of questions requiring a positive or negative answer. The answers were further subjected to a scale to determine the level of depression. To determine the link between social isolation and loneliness the Pearson correlation was used. Other statistical tools such as linear regression were also applied. Finally, to measure the genetic and environmental impact on loneliness, depression, and isolation the researchers applied the twin study methodology.
Results
From the study, male participants recorded high isolation than their female counterparts, but female participants recorded higher levels of depression. Regarding loneliness, there were no differences based on gender. It was established from the study that social isolation and loneliness were considerably correlated (r = 0.39, p < 0.001). However, the relationship between isolation and loneliness was higher in girls (r = 0.45, p < 0.001) than in boys (r = 0.35, p < 0.001). Equally, depression was considerably linked to social isolation (r = 0.21, p < 0.001) and loneliness (r = 0.38, p < 0.001). When the two variables, loneliness, and social isolation were tested simultaneously for regression, the (r) for social isolation remained substantial but decreased by 69% in comparison to the univariate estimate, whereas the (r) for loneliness remain somehow constant. The two variables were also simultaneously tested for logistic regression, and the (r) for isolation decreased significantly, but remained substantial, whereas the odds correlation continued to be the same. Pertaining the cross-twin correlations, the researchers established that genetics somehow impact the level of loneliness, social isolation, and depression. The discrepancies in the three variables were condensed to behavioral and environmental variables. The genetic (r) between loneliness and social isolation was 0.65 which means that there is a strong overlay of these variables with genetics. The disjoint (r) between loneliness and social isolation was 0.23. Between depression and loneliness, the (r) score was 0.63 and the disjoint environmental (r) was 0.26, a reflection of the high relationship among the variables. The percentage of the link between loneliness and social isolation with regards to genetics was 65% whereas the link between depression and loneliness with regards to genetics was 55%.
Discussion
From the results, it can be deduced that children who recorded high social isolation have higher feelings of loneliness hence more prone to depression, an indicator that social ties have advantages on mental state. Children who feel lonely have a strong link to depressive symptoms than the link to social isolation. The researchers also established that heritability estimation for loneliness showed similarity with prior behavioral genetic researchers. The heritability of loneliness is said to be an indicator of genetic propensity with regards to feelings of psychological pain in situations of social isolation. Lack of joint environmental influences is a reflection that environmental factors leading to loneliness and isolation are exceptional to individuals rather than being common to a certain family. Equally, past studies have suggested that isolation, depression, and loneliness are all influenced by genetics. The scientists found a strong link between social isolation and loneliness coupled with the influence of some external factors such as cultural, social and economic conditions that determine how people interact. Despite the fact that boys were found to be more isolated than girls, and girls more depressed than boys, variations based on gender with regards to loneliness were not found, and this was in line with past studies. Girls may feel lonelier than boys if social ties are broken because girls invest more in family relationships and friendship than boys. The fact that the link between isolation and depression was high in both boys and girls is an indicator that loneliness is an equally disturbing emotion for both sexes. However, the researchers acknowledged that Isolation is only one of the contributing factors to depression and the results of the study are subjective. The researchers also believe that increasing social activity may reduce depression levels but not entirely because of many other external factors that lead to depression (Matthews, Danese, Wertz, Odgers, Ambler, Moffitt & Arseneault, 2016).
Study # 2
Method
The participants consisted of 55 elderly individuals of whom 20 were women, and 35 were men, ranging between 60-80 years. The average age of the study cohort was 67 years. These participants were drawn from the aging population of a Delhi-based region living in the housing communities. The respondents agreed freely to be interviewed after they were contacted by the researchers. One of the measures used was the updated UCLA loneliness scale. This scale entails 10 negatively described and 10 positively described items that are highly linked to a combination of questions about loneliness. The updated scale is greatly consistent with a score of 0.94. Another measure that was employed was the Beck depression inventory (BDI) that has 21 detailed items that measure the level of depression. Its score interval ranges between 0.73 and 0.92 and an average score of 0.86. Equally, the researchers applied the sociability subscale of Eysenck personality profiler (EPP V6) which is a broad scale with 3 dimensions. This scale comprises of 20 questions which are closed ended and divided into two; 10 positive and 10 negative questions. The accuracy of this scale is deemed to be constant across various age groups and ethnicities. The respondents were approached personally to build trust and friendship among the two groups. The respondents were given questionnaires which they completed and returned the forms to the research agents. Each questionnaire had a set of standard directions placed on top of the paper, directing the participants to rate themselves where in their opinion they needed to respond. The researchers were keen to inform the respondents that any answer was acceptable since no answer is deemed correct or wrong in research. They were also encouraged to raise any concern pertaining the questionnaires or the study as a whole. The process of answering the question is said to have taken approximately 45 minutes.
Results
From the study, the researchers found out that there is no huge variation between sexes in the aged men and women with regards to depression and loneliness. Pertaining sociability, it was established that elderly men have more social ties than women meaning that they feel less isolated. The results also showed a substantial direct link between loneliness and depression, with a score of 0.01, implying that as loneliness increases depression will equally increase among the elderly population. An inverse but substantial correlation between sociability and loneliness was equally established. The researchers also found no substantial link between depression and social isolation. However, in the elderly male study sample, a substantially direct link was established between loneliness and depression. Regarding the link between social isolation and loneliness, an inverse but insignificant relationship was established. On the other hand, the elderly female population showed a substantial direct link between loneliness and depression.
Discussion
Sociability greatly plays a major role in shielding people from emotions of psychological distress and in promoting an individual’s well-being. The researchers cited some past studies that show evidence of social conditions on depression as one gets older. They also established that the elderly, minority groups, and those with low socialization, and low socio-economic status all experience high depression levels. The research found that social isolation is a key risk condition for functional challenges in elderly persons. The end of important ties in life results in emotions of depression and emptiness. The researchers also found that people with productive social relationships are less concerned about daily challenges and seem calm and independent. The opposite is true for people with minimal social ties since they are often ignored, isolated and depressed. Consequently, they develop a negative perception of themselves, have low enthusiasm about life and do little to change the situation. However, the researchers noted that having minimal social ties does not necessarily imply a feeling of loneliness. Some elderly persons find time spent with friends of the same age more refreshing than staying with family members. They noted that elderly persons like socializing with age mates and therefore as they become of age it is natural that the social networks will diminish and it becomes a challenge for them to make new friends (Singh, 2015).
Referring to the results with regards to sociability, it was found that elderly men socialize more than women in the same age bracket. The researchers say that this may be associated with the fact that most men had government jobs before retirement and learned how to socialize while working, unlike women in the same age group who were largely housewives. The lack of substantial gender variations pertaining loneliness indicates that since the participants were couples cases of loneliness would be minimal. Some of the couples were equally engaged with their children hence the low cases of isolation. Women are also said to record low levels of depression because the change of lifestyle for them after the age of 60 is not as drastic as in men who had government jobs. The transition for them is slow, preventing many interruptions in the mental state. A direct link between depression and loneliness was also consistent with previous studies on elderly men and women. Equally, there was no link between loneliness and isolation a reflection that emotions of loneliness are not only dependent on ties with others but also self-satisfaction. Also, the absence of a substantial link between the two variables reveals that depression is dependent on many external conditions including poor health, tragic event and much more. In conclusion, it was found that there is a substantial link between depression and loneliness based on the study conducted on this elderly group. The shortcomings cited in the study include a small study group hence may not be a true reflection of the relationship between the variables under investigation. Men and women participants were not balanced, and some of the responses might have been biased.
References
Matthews, T., Danese, A., Wertz, J., Odgers, C. L., Ambler, A., Moffitt, T. E., & Arseneault, L. (2016). Social isolation, loneliness and depression in young adulthood: a behavioural genetic analysis. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 51(3), 339-348.
Singh, S. D. (2015). Loneliness, depression and sociability in old age. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume 2, Issue 2, No. 2, 73.