Finding
Older adults’ social ties are more important for physical and mental health than previously thought, new research shows.
Older Americans with strong social connections are healthier and live longer than their socially isolated peers. Increasingly, researchers are finding that the components of good health are not only the absence of mental disorders and physical disease but also the presence of robust social relationships.
In the new edition of PRB’s Today’s Research on Aging, Paola Scommegna, Mark Mather, and Diana Elliott explore recent research probing the dynamics of social connection and health supported by the National Institute on Aging. The findings point to myriad ways in which social ties bolster health—from slowing aging and boosting cancer-fighting hormones to preventing depression and protecting memory. Health policymakers and program planners can use this evidence to inform a variety of interventions—particularly those aimed at reducing social isolation in vulnerable groups—to support longer and healthier lives for older Americans.
Paola Scommegna, Mark Mather, and Diana Elliott (November 2024), More Than a Feeling: How Social Connection Protects Health in Later Life, Today’s Research on Aging, No. 44