Social integration has documented benefits for late-life health; yet, little is known about its impacts on trajectories of physical functioning. This study examines age and gender differences in the longitudinal associations between social integration and activities of daily living (ADLs) using a hierarchical linear model with three waves of survey data collected over 4 years from the Social Integration and Aging Study (N = 400; baseline mean age = 80.3). Findings indicated some interaction effects of age, gender, and/or social integration on ADL trajectories. Among those of more advanced age, women showed greater increases in ADL limitations than men, and individuals with lower social integration experienced greater increases in ADL limitations than those with higher social integration. Neither of these patterns were found among younger older adults. This study highlights the benefits of longitudinal research on social integration and the need to explore practical interventions for promoting social integration particularly among the oldest older adults.

社会融合已证明对晚年健康有益；然而，人们对其对身体机能轨迹的影响知之甚少。本研究使用分层线性模型以及从社会融合和老龄化研究 ( N= 400; 基线平均年龄 = 80.3）。结果表明年龄、性别和/或社会融合对 ADL 轨迹的一些交互影响。在年龄较大的人群中，女性比男性表现出更多的 ADL 限制，社会融合程度较低的人的 ADL 限制比社会融合程度较高的人经历更多。在较年轻的老年人中没有发现这些模式。这项研究强调了对社会融合进行纵向研究的好处，以及探索促进社会融合的实际干预措施的必要性，尤其是在最年长的老年人中。