The association of five-year period mortality with three different types of social relationships

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Abstract

This study aims to examine the association of three different levels of social relationship, perceived loneliness, individual-level social isolation, and group-level segregation, with the mortality over 5-year period among Korean older adults. Various previous studies showed that loneliness and social isolation are independently associated with mortality. We added a group-level segregation based on a complete social network of one entire village to investigate how three levels of social relationships are associated with mortality.
The data is from the Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP) Wave 1 (2011), Wave 3(2014-2015) and Wave 4 (2015-2016). For the analysis, the study started with the 643 residents of Township K, South Korea, among whom 539 were followed-up till wave 4 and 104 were deceased or withdrawn due to health incapacity. A Cox-regression survival analysis was conducted to predict the mortality.
It shows that each of three different levels of social relationship, perceived loneliness, social isolation and group-level segregation, are associated with the mortality over 5-year period. However, only belonging to a segregated group, a component that is socially segregated from other areas in Township K, predicts the morality or incapacity during 5 years, even when the model includes all socio-demographic, health-related measures, and three levels of social relationship all together perceived loneliness, social isolation, health measures and functional social support (HR = 2.25; 95% CI = (1.1, 4.6)).

Authors

• Yoosik Youm, Yonsei University, South Korea

• Jiwon Baek, Yonsei University

• Ekaterina Baldina, Yonsei University