Things They Should Study: how do childless elders feel about their social lives or lack thereof?

You often hear or hear of elders complaining of social isolation because they don't get enough attention from their descendents. And people with children do tend to assume that their children will take care of them in old age.

But what about childless elders? On one hand, if you're childless, you don't have any younger people who have some sense of duty to take care of you. But on the other hand, you can see it coming. You know you don't have any children, so you aren't going to be surprised when you get old and you don't have any children or grandchildren around you.

I did a quick google and the research I could find suggested that childless elders are more socially isolated, although marital status is also a factor. However, none of the abstracts (I can't access academic databases from home so I couldn't see the whole articles) said anything about whether this bothers them.

What's interesting is this is all going to be moot anyway within the next generation. With the internet, even if you're confined to your home and your children never visit you, you can still blog about whatever you want or find an online community about whatever interests you (or whatever it is people will do on the internet a generation from now).