Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Social Engagement, Social Networks, And Well-Being Of Older Adults By Gender And Marital Status, Rachel Wen Yi Ngu, Yi Wen Tan, Yan Er Tan, Wei Tin Hiah

ROSA Research Briefs

In this research brief, we explore the differences in well-being, social engagement, and social networks amongst groups of married and unmarried male and female older adults and discuss potential policy implications. Our study found that single older adult men fared significantly worse than their married counterparts and single older adult women across different aspects of social well-being, such as social engagement and social support. While this emphasizes the need for increased community efforts to engage men, especially single men, in social activities, specific outreach efforts may be required to better understand their needs and how community programmes can address them.