Social Isolation and Psychological Well-being of U.S. Older Adults: Exploring the Moderating and Mediating Effects of Psychosocial Factors
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Social isolation has been recognized as a social problem with negative effects on psychological well-being. Using data from three waves of the Health and Retirement Study across eight years, the primary aims of this study are 1) to examine the impact of social isolation on the growth trajectories of loneliness and depressive symptoms, 2) to explore the potential moderating effects of resilience and neighborhood characteristics, and 3) to explore the mediating effect of social support on the relationships among U.S. adults aged 60 and older (N = 3,681). Social isolation index was constructed using five indicators, including not married or cohabitating with a partner, no social participation, and less than monthly contacts with children, other family members, or friends. Loneliness was measured by the UCLA loneliness scale, and depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D). The mediator of social support included positive social support and negative social support respondents received from their social relationship networks. The moderator of resilience was assessed by the simplified resilience score (SRS). The moderator of neighborhood characteristics assessed two aspects of the neighborhood environment, including physical disorder and social cohesion. The results of the latent growth curve models indicated that social isolation was associated with higher initial levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms, but it was associated with slower increasing rate of loneliness across waves. The mediation analyses indicated the significant role of positive social support as the complete mediator and the role of negative social support as the suppressor on the relationships of social isolation with loneliness and depressive symptoms, respectively. The moderation analyses indicated that resilience significantly buffered the concurrent negative effect of social isolation on the initial level of depressive symptoms. However, neighborhood physical disorder and social cohesion had no significant moderating effect on the relationships. The findings underscore the importance of enacting strategies and interventions targeting both individual- and neighborhood-level factors to address social isolation and its negative consequences among older adults.
Author: Li, Ke
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7043470176