Objective  To analyze the effect of different pension modes on psychological loneliness among urban elderly and to provide evidences for developing effective nursing care service for the elderly by governmental agencies.

  Methods  Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a self-designed questionnaire among 2 300 elderly residents 60 years old and above selected with stratified random sampling in Xuzhou city of Jiangsu province in July 2017. Ordered probit model was used to analyze the effect of self-provision, family-based provision and social provision on psychological loneliness and its domains among the elderly.

  Results  Among the 2 260 valid respondents, 47.52% (1 074) reported the feeling of loneliness; 32.12% (726) and 15.40% (348) reported occasional and frequent feeling of loneliness. Among the respondents with family-based provision, whether living with children and the number of children were significant influencing factors for psychological loneliness (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05); while, among the respondents with social provision, those without governmental pension and no public place for leisure activities in residential communities were more likely to have psychological loneliness (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001).

  Conclusion  Relevant government agencies should increase health care for community elderly, especially for the childless elderly.