Mobility, Disability, and Social Engagement in Older Adults

Objective: To examine cross sectional associations between mobility with or without disability and social engagement in a community-based sample of older adults. Methods: Social engagement of participants (n = 676) was outside the home (participation in organizations and use of senior centers) and i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of aging and health 2013-06, Vol.25 (4), p.617-637
Main Authors: Rosso, Andrea L., Taylor, Jennifer A., Tabb, Loni Philip, Michael, Yvonne L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cross-Sectional Studies
Disability
Disabled Persons - statistics & numerical data
Female
Health technology assessment
Humans
Male
Mobility
Mobility Limitation
Older people
Philadelphia
Social interaction
Social Participation
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Summary:Objective: To examine cross sectional associations between mobility with or without disability and social engagement in a community-based sample of older adults. Methods: Social engagement of participants (n = 676) was outside the home (participation in organizations and use of senior centers) and in home (talking by phone and use of Internet). Logistic or proportional odds models evaluated the association between social engagement and position in the disablement process (no mobility limitations, mobility limitations/no disability, and mobility limitations/disability). Results: Low mobility was associated with lower level of social engagement of all forms (Odds ratio (OR) = 0.59, confidence intervals (CI): 0.41-0.85 for organizations; OR = 0.67, CI: 0.42-1.06 for senior center; OR = 0.47, CI: 0.32-0.70 for phone; OR = 0.38, CI: 0.23-0.65 for Internet). For social engagement outside the home, odds of engagement were further reduced for individuals with disability. Discussion: Low mobility is associated with low social engagement even in the absence of disability; associations with disability differed by type of social engagement.
ISSN:0898-2643
1552-6887
DOI:10.1177/0898264313482489