Table 5.

Distribution of categories characterizing conditions and behaviors of respondents in situations of solitude

Categories	EG1		EG2		Fisher criterion φemp
	Examples 1	(%) No.	Examples 1	No. (%)
Health	“I go in for yoga”; “walk a lot”; “was gathering wild herbs all summer, then I will make decoctions”; “I like to take a steam-bath in the Russian sauna and think about life”; “take care of my body”; “ride a bicycle”; “take aromatic baths and give myself different facials for women’s health, it is important in our ‘peach’[mature] age”; “lie on pins. Did you know there is such an applicator [Kuznetsov Acupressure Acupuncture Massage Mat]? And what’s more, I do exercises to relieve my backache, using a stick, I have a special one”.	50 (91.1)	“I take medicine”; “constantly measure my blood pressure and sometimes blood sugar level”; “try to have more rest and eat healthy food”; “try not to think about bad things and about the future; I don’t have much time left …”; “handle my finances in order to pay the bills and get enough money for food and medicines. How else can I preserve my health?”; “keep a diary of my everyday state, write down my blood pressure and what medicines I have taken and at what time I took them. If I have doubts, I write down questions to ask my doctor”.	70 (95.8)	1.30
Tranquility	“I like to reflect”; “I like to relax; now I can do it with a clear conscience—I’ve raised them all [my children], hurray!”; “fishing, by all means, … stillness, tranquility, and the full pleasure of enjoying nature and life…”;“enjoy reading; I can say that I abandon myself to reading and feel so good”; “well, I feel fine being by myself, I adore such moments”.	29 (51.2)	“I sleep a lot”; “cook my favor-ite dishes … and eat as much as I want and whenever I want”; “well, I do nothing, just rest”; “I am idling my time away”; “hardly anyone is interested in us now, so I just sit and do nothing, that’s all, so the days pass”; “I’ve deserved rest, I worked a lot in my life and worked hard. Now let them take care of me and give me peace and tranquility”.	65 (89)	3.91**
Independence	“I don’t have to stay in tune with someone else’s mood”; “I feel that I am the master of my life”: “no conflicts about trifles”; “I am not burdened with care about some-one else”; “I can take a break at any time, I don’t exclude the possibility of relaxed solitude”; “so as not to be a burden, I rely only on myself”; “financial independence; cur rently I have enough funds …” “don’t need to submit to anyone”.	50 (89.3)	“I can be myself, that is‘ a former me’. I oft en return to my past; it is my past that was real…”; “solitude is when I don’t have to prove the authenticity of my memories about my own life to anybody. Well, indeed, can anyone believe that all that happened to me? As my grandson says: ‘Grandma, is it possible to believe in your fancy stuff?’”; “how bad it is to live alone; my wife died and it is not easy to live with the children; they are really different now, and they may be waiting for my death …, I don’t want to be the cause of their sinful thoughts”.	55 (75.3)	1.9*
Acknowledgement	“I want to be in tune with the times…, therefore I surf a lot on the Internet, get very much that is new and useful from it”; “accept my age with curiosity, try to listen to my body, thoughts, wishes …, this is a new and very interesting experience for me (for now, at least)”; “play computer games”.	35 (62.5)	“I look through my old albums again and again”; “I still do the home canning myself, my granddaughter praises me for it”; “I go down the stairs on my own from the fourth floor and do the shopping all myself”; “I am still in good condition to drive my car … my grand son, of course, laughs at me, but I hope, it is not malicious laughter”;”this is the cost of missed opportunities”.	22 (30.1)	2.44**
Creativity	“Now I have enough time at last, so I am making a creative revision of my many years of notes about travelling by sea. I went to sea for almost 35 years”; “I play the guitar”; “I am concerned with making a genealogical tree; I want to leave the heritage for my grandchildren”; “I bake fish pies; my friends say my pie is a masterpiece…”	48 (85.7)	“I watch TV serials”, “sometimes I sing for myself”; “repair warm socks for my husband; our grandchildren don’t wear such socks anymore …, and I can save some money from my pension”; “we listen to music”.	47 (64.3)	2.47**
Relations with the family	“I think that it is very important in our age; moreover, it is important for the whole family that my old man and I should be in good shape”; “prepare presents for everyone; now I am indeed not so lively as before”; “learn poems by heart; but now I am becoming forgetful, so I mustn’t do it; I don’t want to frighten my home-folks”; “I pray for the health of my relatives and close friends”; “I am always thinking about my loved ones, how they are, all my darlings. I am eager to help them while I can, and then—at least not to disturb them”.	39 (69.6)	“I do a good many of our house-hold routines; my home-folks work a lot”; “I think a lot and worry about my children and grandchildren …, what if I fall ill and cannot move? They will have a lot of trouble with me “; “oft en communicate with my children via Skype; they have moved far away from me, so I always keep listening, not to miss a call”.	69 (94.5)	3.4**
Education	“I attend the Third Age Institute”; “master computer graphics, gradually”; “study Chinese”; “I have been dreaming about a journey to Laos for a long time. I am planning the route by myself, so I am studying the history and geography of the country”; “I want to give myself a present for my 70th birthday–to jump with a parachute, so I am studying the material gradually”.	41 (73.4)	“I read sometimes”; “try to do crosswords, but get bored soon”; “study new recipes”; “not so long ago I learned how to make butter”.	20 (27.4)	3.27**
Terminality of life	“I recall my friends and relatives who are gone. Sometimes I think over how it can happen to me”; “I think over how to write my will correctly; I don’t want to offend anyone, and besides, I want to be remembered well”; “I often think about the final days of my life. Try to keep myself in good shape”; “A year ago my friend died. Her children quarreled over her inheritance. Nobody even wants to give money for the tombstone. I oft en think about how awful it is, get nervous, cry, but do it so that my children shouldn’t see it”.	40 (71.2)	“What joy can be found in solitude? At our age being alone is terrible and dangerous; the end of life is coming soon”; “I live alone. Sometimes it happens that nobody has been wondering how I am for several days. I think sometimes that I could die and nobody would care”; “when I was strong and earned a lot, everybody needed me. And now that I am on the edge of life, they are probably waiting for my demise”.	56 (75.3)	0.22

Note: ¹ These examples of respondents’ answers are presented in the authors’ wording. *p ≤ 0.05; **p≤ 0.01