Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/330552 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Social Indicators Research [ISSN:] 1573-0921 [Volume:] 179 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] Springer Netherlands [Place:] Dordrecht [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 759-779
Publisher: 
Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht
Abstract: 
Social integration is a critical factor in health and longevity among older adults, but an instrument for measuring and comparing social integration of older adults across European countries remains absent. In the present study, we investigate the social integration of people aged 50 years and over by adapting an index established by Berkman and Syme (American Journal of Epidemiology, 109(2):186–204, 1979) to the European context. Based on data collected in 2021from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we conducted a multivariate regression analysis to examine the social integration of women and men across care regimes. Our findings suggest that women are less socially integrated than men and that older adults in more 'familialistic' regimes tend to be less socially integrated. The gender gap in social integration differs across contexts. Women tend to be less socially integrated in family-oriented care regimes, presumably due to their role as primary caregivers, which can limit their opportunities for social activities outside of familial bonds. Our results highlight the importance of developing context-sensitive policies that promote social integration, particularly among women and older adults in family-oriented care regimes, thus offering a wide spectrum for cross-country comparative research on factors enabling social integration in different population groups in Europe's ageing societies.
Subjects: 
Social integration
Population aging
Care regimes
Family roles
Gender inequality
European-comparative study
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.