. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Sep 1.

Published in final edited form as: J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Jun 9;69(9):2579–2590. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17282

Table 2.

Self-Reported Formal and Informal Social Participation in the Past 12 Months

Social Participation Type^a	Women (n=1268)		Men (n=973)		P value
Formal Social Participation – Monthly or More Frequent	n	%	n	%	P
A) Attendance at organized group meetings	387	33.6	251	26.4	<.05
B) Attendance at religious services^b	653	53.6	438	48.8	<.05
C) Volunteer work	422	35.2	239	24.1	<.001
Broadly engaged (A, B and C)^b,c	169	15.5	98	11.1	<.05
Informal Social Participation – Weekly or More Frequent	n	%	n	%	P

Getting together with friends and family	739	67.1	480	57.2	<.001

Frequencies given as unweighted; Percentages are column percentages and given as weighted

P value compares social participation frequency between women and men.

Data were missing for 3 participants for organized meeting attendance, 3 participants for religious service attendance 13 participants for volunteer work, and 3 participants for getting together with friends and family.

Prevalence estimates for attendance at religious attendance and broad formal social engagement were calculated out of those who indicated having a religious preference.

“Broadly engaged” is defined as participation in all three formal activities at least monthly or more.