Age Trends in Daily Social Contact Patterns

Abstract

Research on older adults’ social integration usually focuses on time-indefinite access to social support, community involvement, and network connectedness. Little research has examined the actual amount of social contact older adults have on a typical day. The author uses nationally representative data on 92,698 adults—collected in the 2003-2009 American Time Use Surveys—to examine age-related trends in rates of everyday contact. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression analyses reveal nonlinear relationships between age and rates of social contact. Older adults have substantially lower rates of social contact than younger and middle-aged adults—especially among women. A significant portion, but not all, of the age-related variation in contact patterns is attributable to life-course factors like living arrangements. The author closes by considering several potential explanations for these trends and by urging social gerontologists to pay closer attention to the causes and consequences of microsocial contact patterns among older adults.