Loneliness among Chilean indigenous women: Family, community, and socio-cultural integration as protective factors

This study examined the incidence of loneliness among Chilean indigenous older adult women (106 Aymara and 180 Mapuche) and how family, community and socio-cultural integration are associated with lower levels of loneliness. A cross-sectional study involving 800 older adults living in a rural context in Chile, of whom 35.8% were indigenous women. The De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS-6) were used to assess loneliness and a questionnaire about the maintenance of certain indigenous cultural practices was created. The descriptive findings indicate more loneliness among Mapuche women. Moreover, hierarchical regression models confirmed that women who did not live alone, who participated in social groups and who maintained cultural practices reported lower levels of loneliness, with notable transmission of indigenous knowledge to their children. While, taking part in the indigenous New Year, leading or organizing a ceremony and receiving attention with a health cultural agent were associated with more loneliness. These seemingly contradictory findings are discussed and may be explained by religious changes in indigenous communities; however, this study would confirm that social integration in different dimensions is a protective factor against loneliness.

Identidad étnica e ideación suicida en adolescentes indígenas

La creciente prevalencia de conductas suicidas en México es un tema que recientemente se ha expuesto en Salud Pública de México como un problema de salud pública. En Chile, las conductas suicidas y el suicidio son también de los principales problemas de salud; y si bien la tendencia mundial está marcada por la baja en las tasas de muerte por suicidio, nuestro país, por el contrario,presenta un aumento de 90% entre los años 1990 y 2011; con base en estadísticas de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), Corea, Chile y México son los países miembros que más han crecido en cuanto a tasas de suicidio...