Population lab study prompts 10,000 + web hits
Published on 17 May, 2006
Former CQU academic, Professor William Lauder has recognized the efforts of CQU’s Population Research Lab which provided the data for a loneliness study which has since been reported on more than 10,000 websites internationally.
Professor Lauder, who now works at the University of Dundee, Scotland, congratulated the PRL and its director Professor Kerry Mummery saying that the PRL’s “annual survey is a huge resource which clearly has a growing international profile”.
The Professor of Nursing’s study, which was co-authored by Professor Mummery, was first launched in Central Queensland back in 2003, when results from the Annual Central Queensland Omnibus Survey (ACQOS) found that more than a third of Central Queenslanders were lonely.
The study has since been revisited by Professor Lauder and has been promoted to international media.
According to the study’s results published in the latest Journal of Clinical Nursing, more than a third of adults are lonely, with people in their forties suffering the highest levels.
People with strong religious beliefs were less likely to be lonely and people who were unemployed reported higher levels of loneliness than people who were retired.
The study showed that 35% of the 1289 people who took part in 30-minute telephone interviews in Central Queensland were lonely.
"Understanding what makes people lonely is very important as loneliness can increase the risk of health conditions, such as heart disease and depression, and other problems such as domestic violence," says Professor William Lauder.
"One of the most interesting findings of this study is that it challenges the belief that retirement is linked to diminished social contacts and that people get lonelier as they get older".
Professor Lauder’s study has received excellent world-wide coverage including the BBC Health News page, United Press International and a large number of networked US TV stations, including the Fox network.
The research was also picked up by the 999 network, which provides syndicated news to 10,000 branded websites in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and North, South and Central America. Many of the websites cover geographic areas, like 999 Queensland and 999 Sydney.
Photo above: Professor William Lauder.
Photo left: Professor Kerry Mummery.