Project Overview

The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) is a longitudinal study of U.S. older adults focusing on the effects of social factors on trajectories of physical and mental health. Interview data and objective health measures (including biomeasures) are collected every 5 years. The study began in 2005 with a nationally representative sample of 3,005 community-dwelling adults 57-85 years old (born 1920–1947), and has since expanded to include co-resident spouses/partners and a new cohort of Baby Boomers (born 1948–1965). Both NSHAP cohorts were originally scheduled to be re-interviewed starting in 2020, but social distancing restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic necessitate a delay until Spring 2021. In the interim, we will perform a rapid assessment of both cohorts to collect data that will reveal how older adults are coping with the pandemic and its implications for their physical and mental health. These data will be made available for researchers immediately after collection, and will inform both medical and social policymaking in near real-time concerning the continued response to the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath.


Older adults are at substantially increased risk of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 (hereafter COVID). In addition, they may be especially vulnerable to the effects the pandemic has had on the healthcare system. Specifically, the move to telemedicine (which may be less accessible to some older adults), possible avoidance of emergency services and hospitals due to fear of infection and/or separation from loved ones, and interruption of homecare services may all be having a deleterious effect on the physical health of older adults. In addition to its impact on physical health, shelter-in-place and social distancing may impact older adults’ mental health. Loss of physical contact with important and supportive network members, inability to maintain social activities, social isolation and loneliness are themselves harmful outcomes, but they also cause or exacerbate risk for mental health issues (depression, anxiety, stress) and hamper people’s abilities to meet their basic needs (groceries, health care, prescriptions). Moreover, poor mental health contributes to poor sleep, sedentariness, and substance abuse, health behaviors that exacerbate existing health problems.

The NSHAP sample provides a unique and valuable opportunity to assess the short-term impact of the pandemic on the physical and mental health of older adults:

  1. the probability sample of existing participants can be contacted quickly and will permit inference to the population of community-dwelling older adults living in the U.S.;
  2. previously collected data may be used to supplement the new data being collected in order to contextualize the findings; and
  3. substantial numbers of vulnerable subgroups, including cognitively impaired individuals and African American and Hispanic respondents, will permit comparisons with these subgroups who have been reported to be especially vulnerable to COVID. 

Grant Number

3R01AG043538-08S1

Principal Investigator(s)

Research Aims

Conducting a rapid assessment during or shortly after COVID lockdown has been lifted will provide an unprecedented opportunity to understand whether and how trait resilience—added by NSHAP as a new measure in 2015—protects against adverse consequences in the face of significant social disruption.

The following are the research aims of the project: 

1. Conduct a 16-week rapid survey of all NSHAP respondents to assess their social life, mental health, physical health, health care utilization (including deferral and avoidance), and health behaviors in real- time as social distancing is imposed, relaxed, or re-imposed during the continually evolving pandemic. During the first 4 weeks, we will utilize web- and phone-based surveys to obtain as much data as possible quickly. During the remaining 12 weeks, we will continue to solicit web and phone- responses but will add a paper-and-pencil option for those who do not respond to the web- or phone- options to maximize the final response rate (expected N=3,400). The final data will be made publicly available within one month after the close of the field period.


2. Use data from the first 4 weeks of the study (expected N=1,900) to produce early reports (within 3 months of study onset) on the impact of the pandemic on physical and mental health outcomes, focusing on:


2a. Trait resilience: We will examine whether those with greater trait resilience measured in 2015–16 are coping better in response to the pandemic, and whether the presence of social resources (strong social networks, social support) moderates this effect.


2b. Cognitive status: We will examine whether those with cognitive impairments (N=1,060) or mild dementia (N=594) in 2015–16 are more vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic, and if so, whether social resources help to mitigate this effect.


2c. Subgroups based on race-ethnicity, poverty, rural-urban residence, functional status, and caregiver status: We will examine these subgroups reported or assumed to be more vulnerable.


Results will identify resilient subgroups from whom lessons may be learned, and the specific needs of vulnerable subgroups that could inform interventions. Early reports will be submitted to high-profile journals and media outlets to inform policies designed to assist older adults in coping with the pandemic.