Social connections and well-being in older adults

世界各地都有重大的人口变化，老年人的绝对数量和比例不仅在英国和欧洲，而且在印度和中国等中等收入国家也在迅速增加。促进人口的福祉是大多数政府的重点，因此了解影响老年人福祉的因素并确定可以促进福祉的政策杠杆至关重要。许多老年人报告说，社会关系对他们特别重要，所以我们的项目侧重于社会关系的不同方面，以及这些如何与幸福有关。“幸福”一词对不同的人意味着不同的东西，可以包括生活满意度，生活质量和幸福感。社会关系可以包括与家人或朋友的联系，人们对社区的感受，参与各种活动或团体以及孤独感。其中每一个都可能以不同的方式影响福祉的各个方面，并可能因文化因素而异。较贫穷的人，生病的人和照顾者通常幸福感较低，我们想知道社会关系如何影响这些群体的幸福感。人们对老年人福祉的变化仍然知之甚少。由于我们有跨越数年的福祉不同方面的数据，我们将能够看到这些数据如何随着时间的推移而变化，以及这些变化如何与社会关系的变化相关联。这项研究是伦敦大学学院的一个学术团体与一个致力于老龄化和长寿问题的政策智囊团（英国国际长寿中心）之间的合作，将利用来自英国、欧洲和印度的大量老年人的数据来澄清这些关系。我们预计，这项研究的结果将有助于政策制定者和从业人员制定有助于改善老年群体福祉的政策和干预措施。

There are major demographic shifts throughout the world and the absolute number and proportion of older adults is increasing rapidly not only in the UK and Europe but also in middle income nations such as India and China. Promoting the well-being of the population is a focus for most governments, so it is crucial to understand what affects well-being in older adults and to identify the policy levers that can promote well-being. Many older people report that social relationships are particularly important to them, so our project focuses on different aspects of social relationships and how these are related to well-being. The term 'well-being' means different things to different people and can include life satisfaction, quality of life, and feelings of happiness. Social relationships can include contact with family or friends, how people feel about their communities, participation in various activities or groups and feelings of loneliness. Each of these may affect each dimension of well-being in different ways and are likely to vary depending on cultural factors. People who are poorer, those with an illness and those who are carers usually have low levels of well-being and we would like to know how social relationships affect well-being in these groups. Changes in well-being in older age are still poorly understood. As we have data on different aspects of well-being spanning several years, we will be able to see how these change over time and how these changes relate to changes in social relationships. This study is a collaboration between an academic group at University College London and a policy think-tank working on issues of ageing and longevity (the International Longevity Centre - UK), and will clarify these relationships using data from large cohorts of older adults from England, across Europe and India. We anticipate that findings from this study will help policy makers and practitioners develop policies and interventions that can help improve well-being in older age groups.