Social Isolation, Loneliness, Social Support and Psychophysiological Stress Response in Older Men and Women

Social relationship factors have been linked with cardiovascular health in older adulthood, and epidemiological studies indicate that the association may vary for different constructs of social relationships. This study aims to investigate associations between three social relationship measurements including loneliness, social isolation, and social support and psychophysiological stress response among older adults, with a focus on gender differences.

Ninety older adults (34 males, mean age ± SD = 66.31 ± 5.43) completed measures of social relationships and two stress-inducing tasks including mirror tracing and Stroop-color naming. Heart rate (HR) was monitored throughout the laboratory session.

For male participants, social support was significantly associated with a lower stress HR response (β = -0.181, t = -2.44, p = .022), and this association remained significant (β = -0.174, t = -2.33, p = .029) even after all the other covariates including loneliness and social isolation were taken into account. For female participants, no significant association was found between the three social relationship constructs and stress HR response. No significant result was found for psychological stress response for either male or female participants.

These findings suggest gender differences in the association between specific social relationship constructs and physiological stress response in older adults.