Social isolation increases from adolescence through later life but varies by gender, age, and partnership status

Substantial evidence has found that people who are socially isolated experience worse mental and physical health and are more likely to die compared to their less isolated peers. And while the negative health impacts of social isolation affect both men and women, social isolation unfolds over the life course and perhaps in different ways for men and women. In this research brief, CAPS director and PRC faculty scholar Debra Umberson, along with PRC faculty affiliate Zhiyong Lin, and CAPS/PRC graduate student trainee Hyungmin Cha, report on a recent study that explores the gendered patterns of social isolation from adolescence to old age. Using Add Health and Health and Retirement Study data, they find that social isolation increases from adolescence through later life and that men are more socially isolated than women across all age and partnership categories with one exception: after age 62, married women are more socially isolated than married men.