Search
Program Calendar
Browse By Day
Browse By Time
Browse By Person
Browse By Session Type
Browse By Topic
Personal Schedule
Sign In
Deadlines
Policies
Updating Your Submission
Requesting AV
Presentation Tips
Request a Visa Letter
FAQs
X (Twitter)
Search Tips
Annual Meeting App
About Annual Meeting
Although much research focuses on the influence of social integration or social relationships on health outcomes and well-being, we know relatively little about the nature of social integration itself. Drawing data from the tenth wave (2010) of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study develops a typology of social integration among the elderly based on their extent of involvement in social roles and social activities. The latent class model identifies five ideal types among individuals: partner-focused, kin-focused, nonkin-focused, “childless”, and least-integrated. Multinomial logistic regression is applied to investigate whether and how some social characteristics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, education, age) predict social integration types and several key patterns are found. Relative to falling into the nonkin-focused group, men are more likely to fall into the partner-focused, “childless”, and least-integrated groups, while women are more likely to fall into the kin-focused group. Non-Hispanic blacks are more likely to fall into the kin-focused group than the nonkin-focused group, whereas non-Hispanic whites are more likely to fall into the partner-focused and least-integrated groups than the nonkin-focused group. Hispanics are not distinguished from non-Hispanic whites in all aspects. In addition, being older, healthier, or more educated increases the probability of falling into the nonkin-focused group.