The Association between Depression and Social Isolation among Older Adults

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a twenty-five-year longitudinal study that studies populations over the age of fifty. There is a lack of studies that examine depression and social isolation as comorbid conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine secondary data from the 2014 wave of the HRS regarding associations between depression, social isolation and demographic characteristics, including age (50–104 years), gender, and marital status. Self-reported data from 18,289 participants (10,703 females and 7,586 males) suggested a positive association between depression and social isolation ( r = .365, p < .001) in that as levels of depression increase so do feelings of social isolation. Significantly more females than males reported having depression. Those who were married reported less depression and social isolation. Younger ages experienced depression and older ages social isolation. Further research should explore solutions to decreasing depression and social isolation among older adults in the United States.

Copyright - Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works; Last updated - 2018-05-08