Social Isolation and Health Among Older Adults Living in Senior Housing: A Pilot

Purpose: Social isolation is associated with many negative physical and mental health outcomes. The effects of isolation could be worse among older adults compared to younger adults. Senior housing communities (SHCs) could decrease social isolation and the negative health effects associated with isolation among older adults, as they are living in a community with their peers. The purpose of this study is to 1) document the association between objective and subjective social isolation and health among older adults living in SHCs; and 2) test if subjective isolation moderates the relationship objective isolation and health.

Methods: This study uses data from two SHCs in the St. Louis area. The residents of these SHCs were invited to participate in the survey by announcements from the housing staff, mailed letters, and flyers. Residents who completed the survey received $20 or $30 research incentives. The data sets from each SHC were merged together for a sample size of 96 residents.  The statistics used include Pearson’s R correlations and five regression models. The first set of regression models regress the dependent variable (DV) on objective isolation and subjective isolation. The second set of regression models regress the DV on objective isolation, subjective isolation, and an interaction variable between objective and subjective isolation. Five DVs were tested, including self-rated physical health, self-rated mental health, life satisfaction, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms.

Findings: Pearson’s R correlations found objective isolation was significantly associated with respondents’ age (p=.015), self-rated physical health (p=.013), self-rated mental health (p=.027), life satisfaction (p=.000), and depressive symptoms (p=.006). Subjective isolation was significantly associated with self-rated mental health (p=.011), life satisfaction (p=.000), anxiety symptoms (p=.000), and depressive symptoms (p=.000).  In main effects models, both objective isolation and subjective isolation were related to life satisfaction (p=. 004, p=.016, respectively). Self-rated mental health, anxiety, and depression were only related to subjective isolation (p=.061, p=.000, p=.000, respectively).  Self-rated physical health was not related to either objective or subjective isolation in the main effects models. 

There was one significant moderation model; subjective isolation moderated the relationship between objective isolation and self-rated physical health (p=.069). If a respondent had high levels of subjective isolation, decreasing objective isolation was associated with worse self-rated physical health. If a respondent had low levels of subjective isolation, decreasing objective isolation was associated with better self-rated physical health.

Conclusions/Implications: The results indicate social isolation was associated with negative health outcomes among older adults living in SHCs. Subjective social isolation was found to be more related to mental health outcomes than objective social isolation. Only one of the moderation models was significant, which illustrates social isolation may have a nuanced relationship with self-rated physical health. These results reinforce the importance of decreasing social isolation in SHCs, as it is significantly related to negative health outcomes. Additional studies with larger samples and multiple SHCs are needed to verify the consistency of these results. SHCs are ideal locations for developing and testing interventions to reduce the burden of social isolation and improve the health of older adults.