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Gender, social engagement, and limitations in late life

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  • Thomas, Patricia A.

Abstract

This study examines gender differences in the pathways among social engagement, physical limitations and cognitive limitations among U.S. older adults. It improves upon previous literature by longitudinally testing both social benefit and selection hypotheses, examining gender differences in these relationships, gaining modeling advantages through structural equation modeling, and by incorporating the frequency of participation in social activities as an important source of social integration that may influence health among older adults. This study uses U.S. panel data of adults aged 60 and older from the Americans’ Changing Lives survey (N = 1642) from 1986, 1989, and 1994 in a cross-lagged panel design to better understand these relationships. For women, the flow is from greater social engagement to lower levels of subsequent physical and cognitive limitations, whereas for men the flow is from greater physical and cognitive limitations to lower levels of subsequent social engagement.

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  • Thomas, Patricia A., 2011. "Gender, social engagement, and limitations in late life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(9), pages 1428-1435.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:73:y:2011:i:9:p:1428-1435
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.07.035
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Linglong Ye & Jian Xiao & Ya Fang, 2020. "Heterogeneous Trajectory Classes of Social Engagement and Sex Differences for Older Adults in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Andrea Principi & Henrike Galenkamp & Roberta Papa & Marco Socci & Bianca Suanet & Andrea Schmidt & Katharine Schulmann & Stella Golinowska & Agnieszka Sowa & Amilcar Moreira & Dorly J. H. Deeg, 2016. "Do predictors of volunteering in older age differ by health status?," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 91-102, June.
    4. Daniel W L Lai & Nan Qin, 2018. "Extraversion personality, perceived health and activity participation among community-dwelling aging adults in Hong Kong," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Leimer, Birgit & van Ewijk, Reyn, 2022. "No “honeymoon phase”: whose health benefits from retirement and when," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    6. Atalay, Kadir & Staneva, Anita, 2020. "The effect of bereavement on cognitive functioning among elderly people: Evidence from Australia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    7. Lee, Yeonjin & Jean Yeung, Wei-Jun, 2019. "Gender matters: Productive social engagement and the subsequent cognitive changes among older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 87-95.
    8. Zhen Zhang & Jianxin Zhang, 2015. "Social Participation and Subjective Well-Being Among Retirees in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 143-160, August.
    9. Lin, Ching-Hsuan, 2018. "The relationships between child well-being, caregiving stress, and social engagement among informal and formal kinship care families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 203-216.

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