Life Course Perspectives on Loneliness: Insights from Older Adults and Social Workers

Abstract

This article examines experiences of loneliness among older adults from a life course perspective, fostering a dialogue grounded in Social Work. The aim is to understand how loneliness is constructed, expressed and reinterpreted as a subjective, relational and dynamic experience embedded in diverse life trajectories and shaped by structural factors. A qualitative, descriptive and interpretative approach was adopted, involving 30 individual interviews and 4 focus groups with 74 participants (older adults, social workers and other social-sector professionals) in Barcelona (Spain). The analysis was structured around the three core concepts of life course theory and its five key principles. The findings show that loneliness, understood as distinct from social isolation, is linked to biographical processes marked by expected and unexpected life changes. Its intensity and meaning vary according to timing, historical context, social position and life decisions. Employment, family, institutional, migratory, and sexual orientation and gender identity trajectories significantly shape experiences of loneliness. The study highlights the role of agency and underscores the importance of an intersectional approach to understanding accumulated inequalities. From a Social Work perspective, the article advocates a biographical, situated and relational approach to loneliness, promoting interventions that recognise individual trajectories and support meaningful social relationships.