Introduction
Social engagement is known to improve health; less is known about whether social activities
at the core of African American life decrease mortality risk in this minoritized population.
This study investigated whether and which aspects of social engagement predict mortality
risk in older African Americans.
Methods
Data from 768 African Americans (aged ∼73 years; nondemented at baseline) participating
in the Minority Aging Research Study, a longitudinal community-based, cohort study
of aging, was collected between 2004 and 2020 and analyzed in 2020. Participants self-reported
late-life social activity, social network size, life space, and purpose in life at
baseline and completed approximately 6.5 years of annual follow-up (range=15.70).
Cox models included time from baseline to death or censoring and an indicator for
death versus censored with age, sex, education, cardiovascular disease risk factor
burden, depressive symptomatology, and motor gait performance as covariates.
Results
As of March 2020, 25% of participants died (n=192; age at death ∼83 years). In fully adjusted Cox models, mortality risk decreased
by 34% (hazard ratio=0.66; 95% CI=0.48, 0.91; p=0.012) for those with higher compared with that for those with lower social activity
generally, with community/volunteer-, group-, and socially-related activities specifically
driving these results.
Conclusions
Engaging in late-life social activity, especially group- and socially-based activities,
was most consistently and robustly associated with reduced mortality risk in African
Americans regardless of health. These results lay the foundation for considering community-based
approaches to increase and/or maintain social participation in older African Americans
as a potential means by which to increase longevity in this population.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: July 15, 2022
Publication stage
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© 2022 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
