Being Single in Old Age

Abstract

The routine, everyday life of single elders differs from that of other old people. On the basis of interview data both about themselves and some aspects of the quality of their everyday lives, it is proposed that single elders constitute a distinct type of social personality in old age. Interviews provide subjective and methodological evidence to support this. The “normal,” taken-for-granted social world of single elders is: relatively isolated; but not perceived in terms of loneliness, at present or anticipated; and considered an ordinary extension of their past. Death is conceived as “just another” event of their ongoing experiences.