Functional Status and Social Contact Among Older Adults

This article tests whether functional status is associated with likelihood of social contact among older adults. Data come from the Second Longitudinal Study on Aging, a longitudinal nationally representative sample of 9,447 noninstitutionalized individuals aged 70 and over at baseline in 1995. Functional status is measured using an index of activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Social contact is measured by asking respondents whether they had gotten together socially or talked on the phone with friends/neighbors or family in the past 2 weeks. Greater number of functional limitations is associated with a decreased likelihood of social contact at follow-up via the phone with friends (odd ratio [OR] = 0.94, p < .01) and family (OR = 0.96, p < .01), and a decreased likelihood of getting together with friends (OR = 0.93, p < .01) and family (OR = 0.97, p < .01). Results indicate that functional limitations have a broad impact on self-reported social contact among older adults.