Harry Taylor

University of Toronto | U of T · Department of Social Work

Background and Objectives Loneliness is a major public health concern; however, limited research has examined the mechanisms contributing to racial/ethnic inequities in loneliness. Race/ethnicity has been hypothesized to be a distal factor influencing loneliness, and racial/ethnic inequities in loneliness may be attributable to socioeconomic factor...

Background Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric conditions worldwide, and the incidence of anxiety disorders among adults in the U.S. have increased over the last decade. Anxiety disorders can have debilitating effects on multiple areas of functioning and quality of life. Recently, social isolation has emerged as an important...

Social isolation is associated with worse health; however, few studies have examined the health effects of isolation among African Americans. The purpose of this study is to evaluate associations between social isolation and self-rated physical and oral health from the National Survey of American Life, a nationally representative sample of African...

Religious participation was differentially related to varying anxiety disorders. Religious participation was negatively and positively associated with anxiety. Religious participation plays an important role in anxiety.

In this editorial, we consider the current state of loneliness and social isolation research around the world, including knowledge gaps in the empirical literature.

Objectives: Guided by the theory of stress proliferation, our study examined whether loneliness, citizenship status, and English proficiency were associated with psychological distress among older adults, and if citizenship status and English proficiency moderated these relationships. Methods: Using the older adult subsample (65+ years) of the 2...

Objectives: This study examines associations between social isolation and depressive symptoms among Hong Kong Chinese adults aged 65 and older by investigating the distinct effects of individual indicators, cumulative index, and typologies of social isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: We used a sample of 260 older adults from a cros...

Objectives: Discrimination is an urgent public health problem. A number of major cities and counties across the United States has declared racism a public health crisis. While there is a growing body of research on the discrimination-health connection, less is known regarding the social relational consequences of discrimination. The present study a...

Objectives: To investigate sociodemographic factors and neighborhood/environmental conditions associated with social isolation (SI) among Black older adults. Methods: We utilized data from the 2014 and 2016 Leave-Behind Questionnaire from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS LBQ) among those who self-identified as Black (N = 2.323). Outcome variabl...

Objective: This study examined racial and ethnic differences in the receipt and provision of instrumental family support. Background: Extended families provide significant levels of emotional and instrumental support across the life course. Despite their importance, extended family relationships and the assistance they provide are largely neglec...

Objective: This study sought to determine whether religious involvement is associated with sleep quality in a nationally representative sample of older African Americans. Methods: The analytic sample included African American respondents aged 55+ from the National Survey of American Life-Reinterview ( N = 459). Religious involvement variables inclu...

Background and Objectives COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted older adults and Black individuals. Research has focused on physical outcomes, with less attention to the psychological effects of COVID-19. The objective of this study was to examine the interplay between perceptions of the COVID-19 outbreak as a threat to one’s day-to-day life, ra...

Racism and the Life Course: Social and Health Equity for Older Black Americans examines the impacts of systemic racism on adult development and the aging trajectories of Black Americans. Using the life course perspective (e.g., socio-historical events, linked lives), we discuss systemic racism as a structural driver of practices and policies (e.g.,...

Objectives: Discrimination is a major contributor to health disparities between Black and White older adults. Although the health effects of discrimination are well established, less is known about factors that may intervene in the discrimination-health connection, such as coping strategies. The study aim was to determine whether John Henryism (JH...

There is increasing evidence suggesting the influence social isolation has on health outcomes and mental well-being. Chronic medical conditions, such as pain, have been shown to impact social relationships and isolation among majority populations, but there is little evidence documenting this relationship among African Americans. To address this la...

Background: Research documents the adverse health effects of systemic inflammation. Overall, older Black Americans tend to have higher inflammation than older non-Hispanic white adults. Given that inflammation is related to a range of chronic health problems that disproportionately affect Blacks compared to whites, this racial disparity in inflamm...

Social isolation is associated with a wide range of health problems, including early mortality. However, little is known about the risk factors for social isolation specifically among African Americans. This study examined 1) the associations between discrimination and objective and subjective social isolation and 2) how these associations vary by...

Loneliness is consistently linked to worse depression/depressive symptoms; however, few studies examined if this relationship varies by race. The purpose of this study was to determine if race moderated the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms among a nationally representative sample of older Black and White adults. Data come fro...

The concept of “double jeopardy”—being both older and Black—describes how racism and ageism together shape higher risks for coronavirus exposure, COVID-19 disease, and poor health outcomes for older Black adults. Black people and older adults are the two groups most affected by COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Double jeopardy, as a race- and age-i...

Social relationships are important for promoting health and well-being in men and confer many benefits that help prevent the onset and mitigate adverse impacts of disease and disability. Social isolation, or the absence of social relationships, is associated with a wide range of negative health outcomes; however, most studies of social isolation ha...

Background and Objectives Loneliness is consistently linked to worse depression/depressive symptoms; however, there are few studies that have examined whether the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms varies by race. The purpose of this study was to determine whether race moderated the relationship between loneliness and depressiv...

Social isolation is a significant social problem in the United States that many health and welfare organizations have begun to acknowledge and address. Unfortunately, extremely little research focuses on social isolation among ethnic minority populations. This study investigated the association between social isolation from family and friends and t...

This study examined racial and ethnic differences in professional service use by older African Americans, Black Caribbeans, and Non-Hispanic Whites in response to a serious personal problem. The analytic sample (N = 862) was drawn from the National Survey of American Life. Findings indicated that African Americans and Black Caribbeans were less lik...

Social isolation is a major problem in the United States that has adverse impacts on health and well-being. However, few studies investigate social isolation among African Americans or the impact of social isolation on psychiatric disorders. This study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of objective (absence of contact with others) and...

Social isolation and loneliness are significant risks to health among older adults. Previous studies have found a significant association between social isolation and loneliness; however, few studies examined the association between social isolation and loneliness in a multivariate context and how specific types of social isolation influence loneli...

Our study describes social connections among residents in two low-income senior housing communities and then examines if these connections influence their well-being. Operationalization of social connections included social network size, informal social support, social engagement, and loneliness. The Convoy Model of Social Relations guides our stud...

Strong and fulfilling relationships are important components of men’s health and well-being across the life course; however, social isolation and loneliness are important but under-assessed conditions among older men. This is important to note because older men often subscribe to common masculinity themes regarding independence and self-sufficiency...

This study aimed to investigate the impact of driving cessation on social isolation in older adults. Data came from the National Health and Aging Trends Study round 1 through round 6 surveys. Study sample consisted 6,916 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65+ who were eligible drivers at baseline. Social isolation measure was based on social domains conce...

Objective: This study investigated the impact of driving cessation on social isolation in older adults. Method: Data were obtained from Rounds 1 through 6 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. The study sample consisted of 6,916 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 or above who were eligible drivers at baseline. Mixed-effects ordered logistic re...

Background: This cross-sectional study examined the association between various characteristics of friendships and 12-month major depressive disorder (MDD) and whether these associations vary by education level among African Americans. Methods: The analytic sample included 3434 African American respondents drawn from the National Survey of Ameri...

Objectives: Social isolation is a major risk factor for poor physical and mental health among older adults. This study investigates the correlates of objective social isolation among older African Americans, black Caribbean immigrants, and non-Hispanic whites. Methods: The analysis is based on the older subsample (n = 1,439) of the National Surv...

There are many studies on loneliness among community-dwelling older adults; however, there is limited research examining the extent and correlates of loneliness among older adults who reside in senior housing communities. This study examines the extent and correlates of loneliness in three public senior housing communities in the St. Louis area. Da...

This study examined the correlates of objective social isolation from extended family members and friends among older adults. The analysis is based on the older adult sub-sample of the National Survey of American Life (n= 1321). Multinomial logistic regression analyses examined race/ethnicity, demographics, functional health and family and friend n...

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between informal social support from extended family and friends and suicidality among African Americans. Methods: Logistic regression analysis was based on a nationally representative sample of African Americans from the National Survey of American Life (N = 3263). Subjective closeness and frequency...

Although there is a large literature on the influence of social support on mental health there is limited research on social support and OCD. This is especially the case for African Americans and Black Caribbeans. This study examines the relationship between family and friendship networks and the prevalence of OCD. The analysis is based on the Nati...

Objective: To investigate the impact of objective and subjective social isolation from extended family members and friends on depressive symptoms and psychological distress among a national sample of older adults. Method: Data for older adults (55 years and above) from the National Survey of American Life ( N = 1,439) were used to assess level o...

Social isolation is a significant public health problem among many older adults; however, most of the empirical knowledge about isolation derives from community-based samples. There has been less attention given to isolation in senior housing communities. The objectives of this pilot study were to test two methods to identify socially isolated resi...

This study investigated the correlates of objective social isolation from extended family members and friends among a national sample of African Americans. The analysis is based upon the African American subsample (n=3,570) of the National Survey of American Life. The dependent variable examines four categories of respondents: 1) socially isolated...

Examines combinations of professionals visited for a serious personal problem. The sample includes those aged 55 and above (N = 862) from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Latent class analysis was used to identify groups of respondents based on types of professionals visited. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify factors...

This study examines patterns of emotional support and negative interaction (i.e., criticism, conflict) from extended family members using data on African Americans and Caribbean Blacks from the National Survey of American Life. A pattern variable was constructed that describes four types of extended family networks: (1) high emotional support and h...

The purpose of this study was to estimate how many presentations at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) are subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals. A 30% random sample of abstracts presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting of SSWR was reviewed. To determine publication status of the presentations, the authors...

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are electronic tools used to convey, manipulate and store information. The exponential growth of Internet access and ICTs greatly influenced social, political, and economic processes in the United States, and worldwide. Regardless of the level of practice, ICTs will continue influencing the careers...