Lonely Old Men

Research on 2006 census data shows that an increasing number of Australian men in their 40s and 50s are now spending their life at home, alone (see link, below). Many of these men have lower paying jobs and tend to be less educated than middle-age women who live alone or men who are partnered. Disturbingly, for many of these men ‘alone’ does indeed equate with ‘loneliness’. The deeper questions that I can see are:

1. How is it that us blokes can end up in such a despairing state?

2. What is it about middle-age men that differentiates us from how middle-aged women in Australia organise their lives?

3. And equally as important, what is it about our cultural values that contributes to these negative outcomes?

I would caution against automatically equating being alone with loneliness. Moreover, whenever we talk about ‘men’ we need to unpack exactly which men we are talking about. Lower income, less educated, yes. But much more information is required. And we also need to learn from those middle-age men, whether living alone or with another or others, whose lives are rich, fulfilled and rewarding.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/midage-blokes-home-alone-20100110-m0oa.html