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Background
Keywords
Findings
Authors
What is already known on this subject?
What does this study add?

Background

Social participation has been associated with health and well-being in older adults.

Data and Methods

Data from the 2008/2009 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)—Healthy Aging were used to examine the relationship between frequent social participation and self-perceived health, loneliness and life dissatisfaction in a sample of 16,369 people aged 65 or older. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify significant relationships, while adjusting for potential confounders. The mediating role of social support and the prevalence of reported barriers to greater social participation were also examined.

Results

An estimated 80% of seniors were frequent participants in at least one social activity. As the number of different types of frequent social activities increased, so did the strength of associations between social participation and positive self-perceived health, loneliness, and life dissatisfaction. The associations generally remained significant, but were attenuated by individual social support dimensions. The desire to be more involved in social activities was reported by 21% of senior men and 27% of senior women.

Interpretation

Social participation is an important correlate of health and well-being in older adults.  It may be that social support gained through social contacts is as important in these associations as the number of activities in which one participates frequently.

Keywords

Aging, cross-sectional study, health survey, social support

Findings

Older age is a transitional period when people experience changes not only in physical health, but also in social roles (for example, retirement, children are grown) that can influence opportunities for social participation. Epidemiological studies suggest that social activities may be particularly important for older adults. The possible health benefits include reduced risk of mortality, disability and depression, and better cognitive health, self-rated health and health-related behaviours. Thus, social participation has been integrated into research and policy frameworks of aging. For instance, social engagement—involvement in meaningful activities and maintaining close relationships—is a component of successful aging. [Full Text]

Author

Heather Gilmour (1-613-951-2114; heather.gilmour@statcan.gc.ca) is with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0T6.

What is already known on this subject?

  • Epidemiological studies have established social participation as a factor associated with positive health outcomes for seniors.
  • A possible mechanism by which social participation is associated with health is through the social support gained by relationships with other people.

What does this study add?

  • Based on recent data, the majority of Canadian seniors were frequent participants in at least one type of social activity
  • Greater social participation was positively associated with self-perceived health and negatively associated with loneliness and life dissatisfaction.
  • Social support was a mediating factor in these associations, corroborating the hypothesis that the quality of social relationships is an important aspect of how social participation is associated with health.
  • Frequent barriers to social participation included health limitations, being too busy, personal or family responsibilities, and not wanting to go alone to activities.