Gender and Social Isolation across the Life Course

Abstract

Social isolation has robust adverse effects on health, well-being, dementia risk, and longevity. Although most studies suggest similar effects of isolation on the health of men and women, there has been much less attention to gendered patterns of social isolation over the life course—despite decades of research suggesting gender differences in social ties. We build on theoretical frames of constrained choice and gender-as-relational to argue that gender differences in isolation are apparent but depend on timing in the life course and marital/partnership history. Results indicate that boys/men are more isolated than girls/women through most of the life course, and this gender difference is much greater for the never married and those with disrupted relationship histories. Strikingly, levels of social isolation steadily increase from adolescence through later life for both men and women.

Lifecourse Trajectories and Cross-generation Trends in Social Isolation: Findings from Five Successive British Birth Cohort Studies

“…Similarly, both males and females in the older cohorts showed a high probability of regular contact with friends and family outside the household, even when living alone in late adulthood. Although there are some mixed findings relating to gender differences in social isolation based on family and friend networks and frequency of contact, there is some evidence, including from a recent US longitudinal study (Umberson et al, 2022), that males are more socially isolated throughout the lifecourse and women have larger social networks and higher participation in social activities (Kendler et al, 2005;Hong et al, 2009).…”

“…Investigation of objective social isolation shifts the focus away from individuals and towards structural factors contributing to a lack of social connectedness, helping to identify areas that are modifiable through targeted policy and intervention. After all, as is true of many other social resources, social connections are not equally available across the population (Umberson et al, 2022). With evidence to support an association between social isolation and poor health and wellbeing independent from loneliness, more research is needed that develops frameworks for capturing multiple objective indicators of social isolation.…”

“…Beyond a lack of research that comprehensively assesses objective indicators of social isolation across different contexts, there are very few longitudinal studies that explore trajectories in social isolation across the lifecourse. One recent example from the United States (US) demonstrated a steady increase in social isolation from adolescence to later life (Umberson et al, 2022). Longitudinal approaches are also increasingly being utilised to highlight persisting disadvantages in social isolation.…”

“…However, there is no consensus over evidence for higher social isolation in women (Naito et al, 2021), men (Cudjoe et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2020), and studies that find no gender difference (Kotwal et al, 2021). In the most recent and comprehensive study to date, Umberson et al (2022) utilised data from two US longitudinal surveys and found that males were more socially isolated throughout the lifecourse based on information relating to romantic relationships, family, friends, and the community.…”

Reconfiguring Social Disconnectedness and Its Link to Psychological Well-Being among Older Adults in Rural China

“…Our study has also made an important contribution to the gendered understanding of social disconnectedness-life satisfaction linkage; that is, the magnitude of the association is stronger for women than for men. Just like women in other settings around the world, Chinese women are the kin keepers of the family, and tend to pay more attention to social connections and interpersonal relationships than men (Cheng & Chan, 2006; Umberson et al, 2022). Previous research has also suggested that older rural Chinese women heavily rely on external social connections to get financial, instrumental, and emotional support (Li et al, 2009).…”