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Social Integration and Healthy Aging in Japan: How Gender and Rurality Matter

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Abstract

The current study analyzed the 1999 and 2001 waves of the Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging. Two measures of social integration were associated with lower risks of being physically disabled or depressed at Wave 1 and with a lower risk of progressing into deeper levels of physical disability and depression by Wave 2. Ceteris paribus, compared to elderly urbanites, elderly ruralites had a much higher risk of being physically disabled but much lower odds of being depressed. And compared to elderly men, elderly women had similar risks of being physically disabled but much higher odds of being depressed. Suggestions are made on how future research on longevity in Japan, the world’s most longevous nation, can explore the links among social integration, place, gender, and the postponement of mortality.

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Acknowledgments

This study used data from the Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging (NUJLSOA) conducted by the Nihon University Center for Information Networking. We thank Dr. Yasuhiko Saito for making the data available to us. This work was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship to the first author from the National Institute on Aging (T32 AG00129) through the Center for Demography of Health and Aging (P30 AG17266) and the Center for Demography and Ecology (R24 HD047873), and by a grant to the second author under the Hatch Act from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Project MICL01874. We would like to also thank James Raymo, Ph.D., Cathy Liu, Ph.D., and Rita Gallin Ph.D. for critical insights in developing this study. An earlier draft was presented at the annual meetings of the Rural Sociological Society, Manchester NH, July 2008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53706-1320, USA

    Kimiko Tanaka

  2. Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824-1111, USA

    Nan E. Johnson

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  1. Kimiko Tanaka
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  2. Nan E. Johnson
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Correspondence to Kimiko Tanaka.

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Tanaka, K., Johnson, N.E. Social Integration and Healthy Aging in Japan: How Gender and Rurality Matter. J Cross Cult Gerontol 25, 199–216 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-010-9118-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-010-9118-6

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