Fear of Solitary Death and its Impact Factors in Japan’s Aging Society

Abstract
Loneliness is an important social issue affecting the well-being of both individuals and societies. It also is a widely researched area of study, particularly in the context of aging and old age. In Japan, a related issue has received increasing attention in recent years: Kodokushi ?a lonely (or solitary) death? is the phenomenon of mostly older people dying solitarily and unnoticed in their homes. This presentation analyzes the impact factors on the fear of solitary death using data from the 2013 Survey of Quality of Life (N=7538) in Japan. Results of our multivariate regression analysis show that social isolation is the main driver of worries about solitary death, but other variables still have a significant influence which varies across different age groups. Depending on the age group, household income, marital status, the number of children, the type of home, living alone as well as neighborhood access and satisfaction are important determinants of worries about solitary death.

This research is conducted in collaboration with Dr. Tim Tiefenbach, German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo.

About the Speaker
Dr. Florian Kohlbacher is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Innovation in the International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou, PR China. He is also a Research Fellow at the S loan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College and an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS) at Temple University Japan Campus. Before joining IBSS, Florian was a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Business & Economics Section at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo, Japan, where he lived for 11 years.