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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2025 Aug 27.
Published in final edited form as: J Appl Gerontol. 2025 Jun 25;45(5):963–972. doi: 10.1177/07334648251355676

Table 1.

Sample Characteristics, by Partnership Status and Quality During COVID-19.

No partner Poor partnership Fair partnership Good partnership Excellent partnership Total p-Value

Mean age (SD) 69.2 (17.2) 65.2 (11.8) 67.1 (12.2) 66.2 (12.0) 64.6 (12.0) 67.0 (14.4) <0.001
% Female (N) 68.1 (1101) 59.4 (443) 49.5 (449) 47.8 (444) 47.9 (382) 56.5 (2819) <0.001
% Non-white (N) 3.8 (62) 6.8 (51) 2.2 (20) 2.8 (26) 2.0 (16) 3.5 (175) <0.001
Employment status
 % Retired (N) 71.5 (1156) 60.6 (452) 68.8 (624) 68.5 (636) 67.1 (535) 68.1 (3403) <0.001
 % Employed (N) 15.9 (257) 21.2 (158) 19.4 (176) 20.2 (187) 20.6 (164) 18.9 (642)
 % Unemployed (N) 12.6 (203) 18.2 (136) 11.8 (107) 11.3 (105) 12.3 (98) 13.0 (649)
Financial situation since COVID-19
 % Worse off (N) 16.4 (265) 21.9 (163) 18.7 (170) 17.5 (162) 17.3 (138) 18.0 (898) 0.005
 % Better off (N) 19.1 (308) 18.0 (134) 21.4 (194) 23.6 (219) 20.3 (162) 20.4 (1.017)
% Not always enough food (N) 18.1 (292) 16.2 (121) 12.9 (117) 9.5 (88) 7.0 (56) 13.5 (674) <0.001
% Without a garden (N) 11.6 (187) 3.1 (23) 3.8 (34) 3.9 (36) 3.1 (25) 6.1 (305) <0.001
% Lowest subjective social position (N) 28.3 (457) 22.8 (170) 17.6 (160) 18.1 (168) 15.1 (120) 21.5 (1075) <0.001
% No academic qualification 16.8 (272) 12.2 (91) 12.9 (117) 9.6 (89) 9.9 (79) 13.0 (648) <0.001
Physical activity since COVID-19
 % Less than usual (N) 38.9 (628) 38.3 (286) 35.3 (320) 32.1 (298) 29.2 (233) 35.3 (1765) <0.001
 % More than usual (N) 15.6 (252) 18.8 (140) 17.9 (162) 23.4 (217) 21.7 (173) 18.9 (944)
% Impairment with activities (N) 26.2 (424) 20.1 (150) 17.5 (159) 17.8 (165) 13.4 (107) 20.1 (1005) <0.001
% Contact with family <=twice a week 43.0 (695) 51.2 (382) 47.3 (429) 51.4 (477) 51.3 (409) 47.9 (2392) <0.001
% Contact with friends <=twice a week 42.7 (690) 64.1 (478) 63.0 (571) 62.2 (577) 61.0 (486) 56.1 (2802) <0.001
% Depressed (pre-COVID-19) 31.0 (501) 29.0 (216) 19.7 (179) 15.6 (145) 11.5 (92) 22.7 (1133) <0.001
% High anxiety (pre-COVID-19) 15.1 (244) 18.5 (138) 13.6 (123) 10.7 (99) 7.0 (56) 13.2 (660) <0.001
% Low life satisfaction (pre-COVID-19) 31.7 (512) 31.0 (231) 17.5 (159) 12.5 (116) 7.5 (60) 21.6 (1078) <0.001
N respondents 1616 746 907 928 797 4994

Source: ELSA, COVID-19 sub-study Wave 1 (June/July 2020) and Wave 9 (2018–2019).