TY - JOUR
T1 - Social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in an older sample
T2 - Ethnic and gender differences
AU - Locher, Julie L.
AU - Ritchie, Christine S.
AU - Roth, David L.
AU - Baker, Patricia Sawyer
AU - Bodner, Eric V.
AU - Allman, Richard M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was support by grants from the National Institute on Aging (“Eating Behaviors in Homebound Older Adults”/K01 AG00994 to the first author and Mobility among African Americans and Whites/R01 AG15062 to the last author) and the AARP/Andrus Foundation to the last author. The authors wish to thank Freddie Thomas for word-processing support. Last, the authors wish to thank three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful critique of the manuscript.
PY - 2005/2
Y1 - 2005/2
N2 - This study examines the relationships that exist between social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in older black and white women and men. The paper reports on 1000 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and older enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging, a longitudinal observational study of mobility among older black and white participants in the USA. Black women were at greatest nutritional risk; and black women and men were the groups most likely to be socially isolated and to possess the least amounts of social support and social capital. For all ethnic-gender groups, greater restriction in independent life-space (an indicator of social isolation) was associated with increased nutritional risk. For black women and white men, not having adequate transportation (also an indicator of social isolation) was associated with increased nutritional risk. Additionally, for black and white women and white men, lower income was associated with increased nutritional risk. For white women only, the perception of a low level of social support was associated with increased nutritional risk. For black men, not being married (an indicator of social support) and not attending religious services regularly, restricting activities for fear of being attacked, and perceived discrimination (indicators of social capital) were associated with increased nutritional risk. Black females had the greatest risk of poor nutritional health, however more indicators of social isolation, support, and capital were associated with nutritional risk for black men. Additionally, the indicators of social support and capital adversely affecting nutritional risk for black men differed from those associated with nutritional risk in other ethnic-gender groups. This research has implications for nutritional policies directed towards older adults.
AB - This study examines the relationships that exist between social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in older black and white women and men. The paper reports on 1000 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and older enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging, a longitudinal observational study of mobility among older black and white participants in the USA. Black women were at greatest nutritional risk; and black women and men were the groups most likely to be socially isolated and to possess the least amounts of social support and social capital. For all ethnic-gender groups, greater restriction in independent life-space (an indicator of social isolation) was associated with increased nutritional risk. For black women and white men, not having adequate transportation (also an indicator of social isolation) was associated with increased nutritional risk. Additionally, for black and white women and white men, lower income was associated with increased nutritional risk. For white women only, the perception of a low level of social support was associated with increased nutritional risk. For black men, not being married (an indicator of social support) and not attending religious services regularly, restricting activities for fear of being attacked, and perceived discrimination (indicators of social capital) were associated with increased nutritional risk. Black females had the greatest risk of poor nutritional health, however more indicators of social isolation, support, and capital were associated with nutritional risk for black men. Additionally, the indicators of social support and capital adversely affecting nutritional risk for black men differed from those associated with nutritional risk in other ethnic-gender groups. This research has implications for nutritional policies directed towards older adults.
KW - Ethnicity
KW - Gender
KW - Social capital
KW - Social isolation
KW - Social support
KW - USA
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=9644259081&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=9644259081&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.06.023
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.06.023
M3 - Article
C2 - 15571893
AN - SCOPUS:9644259081
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 60
SP - 747
EP - 761
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
IS - 4
ER -