Social Integration and Sleep Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prospective Evidence from a Study of Retired Older Adults

Background Growing evidence has documented the adverse impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on sleep quality among older adults. Given the negative consequences of poor sleep, it is critical to identify factors that provide older adults with resilience against worsening sleep quality. Social integration may represent one such resilience factor. Purpose This study evaluated the association of social integration and sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods 113 retired older adults completed assessments of their social integration after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and of their sleep quality before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Higher levels of social integration were associated with better sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic, even when statistically controlling for pre-pandemic sleep quality. Sex-stratified analyses showed that this association was driven by women in our sample. Conclusions Social integration may confer resilience against poor sleep quality, especially in older adult women. Additional research is warranted to assess candidate mechanisms and moderators of the link between social integration and sleep quality.

Automated summary

The study found that social integration is closely linked to sleep quality in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in women. Additional research is needed to further understand the mechanisms and moderators of this relationship.