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Indicators of Social Isolation: A Comparison Based on Survey Data from Germany

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Abstract

The paper presents a data-based comparison of three indicators of social isolation that are frequently used in contemporary social research: (a) low frequency of social contact with friends, relatives, and neighbors (social contact indicator); (b) absence of a discussion network (discussion network indicator); (c) absence of social support (support indicator). All three indicators are in line with an understanding of social isolation as the absence of close personal relationships. However, as shown in this paper, they are correlated only weakly to each other and lead to different results concerning the overall share of social isolation, age disparities, and gender differences of social isolation. Against this background, the paper proceeds with considerations on the content validity and criterion validity of the three indicators. Different versions of each indicator are scrutinized to gain insights on content validity. Conclusions on criterion validity are drawn from an examination of the correlations between the indicators and health, poverty, satisfaction with family life, and satisfaction with social life. Findings suggest a higher validity of the social contact indicator compared to the other two indicators. Data source is the German Socio-Economic Panel. Discussions of content validity are additionally based on analyses using the German Family Survey and the German Aging Survey.

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Fig. 1

Data: German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), weighted, German citizens

Fig. 2

Data: German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), weighted, German citizens

Fig. 3

Data: German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) 2011, weighted, moving 5-year-avarages, German citizens, N = 20,768 (10,967 women, 9801 men)

Fig. 4

Data: German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) 2011, weighted, moving 5-year-avarages, German citizens, N = 15,811 (8302 women, 7509 men; lower N compared to Fig. 3 is the result of a split questionnaire design)

Fig. 5

Data: German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) 2011, weighted, moving 5-year-avarages, German citizens, N = 15,738 (8264 women, 7474 men; lower N compared to Fig. 3 is the result of a split questionnaire design)

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Notes

  1. With regard to the American General Social Survey, Paik and Sanchagrin (2013) found that the discussion network instrument is vulnerable to interviewer effects when it is used to collect broad information about respondent's ego-centered network. Notably, this produced the biased results reported by McPherson et al. (2006) which showed a large increase of social isolation in the United States. However, such interviewer effects are less likely when using the GSOEP data. There is scarce network data collected in the GSOEP, so there is virtually no incentive for interviewers to fake input.

  2. The exact text in the questionnaires is “Now a hypothetical question: If you were to need long-term care (for example, in the case of a bad accident), who would you ask for help?”.

  3. In wave 1991, the “no one”-check box is missing. In wave 2001, there is one “no one”-check box for the first supportive person and another one for the second which presumably is confusing for most respondents.

  4. Earlier waves lack information on the existence of couple relationships with separate households.

  5. Respondents were asked: “How satisfied are you today with the following areas of your life? […]—your family life;—your social life”.

  6. Reference group is the 18–21 year old population of the respective gender. Estimating effects of 27 age groups ensures a more effectively correction for age than estimating a linear or polynomial age effect.

  7. Data derive from wave GSOEP wave 2011. Additional analyses based on older GSOEP waves show age disparities similar to those illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. Wave 2006 was additionally used to study age disparities of the discussion network indicator and the support indicator, waves 1992, 1996, 2001, and 2005 were additionally used to study age disparities of the social contact indicator.

  8. Wave 2006 does not include the social contact indicator.

  9. The German Family Survey covers only the population under 56 years of age and was carried out in the year 2000 for the last time.

  10. The deviance (−2 log likelihood) of the restricted regression models for poverty (Table 7) is 2253.38 (men) and 3224.79 (women). The deviance of the restricted regression models for health (Table 8) is 5914.06 (men) and 7176.24 (women).

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Acknowledgements

This study is part of a research project funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) (Grant No. EC 433/3-1).

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    Jan Eckhard

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Eckhard, J. Indicators of Social Isolation: A Comparison Based on Survey Data from Germany. Soc Indic Res 139, 963–988 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1741-y

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