Ongoing study reveals health insights into older Americans

Abstract: A major research project that has literally been ongoing for 20 years and is being conducted for the National Institute on Aging continues to collect valuable data and provide great insight into the lives and health of older Americans. Entitled the National Social Life, Health & Aging Project or NSHAP, it is and has been since its inception, been conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, for there really is no end point.

A major research project that has literally been ongoing for 20 years and is being conducted for the U.S. National Institute on Aging continues to collect valuable data and provide great insight into the lives and health of older Americans.

Entitled the National Social Life, Health & Aging Project or NSHAP, it is and has been since its inception, been conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, previously known as the National Opinion Research Center, for there really is no end point.

There are currently four rounds of NSHAP data available to researchers dating back to 2005 with two additional studies that came out of the fourth round either now under way or will be in 2026. There are also plans for a fifth round up the road that will focus on Generation X in the works.

Round 1 conducted in 2005-06 included interviews with 3,005 people born between 1920 and 1947 and aged between 57 and 59.

According to the NORC, “by the mid-2030’s the number of Americans aged 65 and older will top 77 million and the United States will then have more retirement aged adults than children. It is, therefore, essential to understand the complex mental, cognitive and physical health trajectories of this population.

“While studies on aging already existed when NSHAP initiated data collection in 2005, few surveys collected data on both health and social relationships. Beyond the need to better understand the impact of social engagement on healthy aging, the role of intimate relationships had not yet been investigated,” it states.

The organization also notes that analyses of “NSHAP data have resulted in groundbreaking findings about older adults’ lives and health. NSHAP researchers have published hundreds of peer reviewed articles and book chapters and presented on topics spanning: social relationships and contexts; cognition, physical and mental health; and a wide range of biomeasures.”

An example of that occurred in the organization’s COVID-19 study that was conducted between September 2020 and January 2021. One questionnaire focused on how the “pandemic was affecting older adults’ physical, mental and social health in the short-term.”

In addition, it says its findings “demonstrate the fundamental importance that social relationships and contexts play in health trajectories and outcomes as people age.”

Linda Waite, the principal investigator of the NSHAP and a leader in social demography, aging and well-being studies, says that “social networks, social participation, social relationships, and intimacy affect and are affected by physical health and functioning, emotional well-being, sensory function, and cognition. We know this from our study.”

The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging, meanwhile, describes it as the first “population-based study of health and social factors on a national scale, aiming to understand the well-being of older, community-dwelling Americans by examining the interactions among physical health, illness, medication use, cognitive function, emotional health, sensory function, health behaviors, and social connectedness.

“It is designed to provide health providers, policy makers, and individuals with useful information and insights into these factors, particularly on social and intimate relationships.”