Social factors can impact how people age: McGill study
Posted May 16, 2025 2:08 pm.
Last Updated May 16, 2025 5:08 pm.
According to research at McGill University, social factors can have an impact on how seniors age.
Researchers looked into data from various studies conducted on aging populations in North America, Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom. They found that greater socio-economic resources and stronger social connections were more likely than others to age in place – meaning how likely a person is able to grow old in their own home.
“The main takeaway from our research is that aging in place is not equally accessible to everyone,” said Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, the senior author on the paper and the Inaugural Chair and Professor in the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Canada Research Chair in Policies and Health Inequalities.
“What we wanted to do was highlight the fact that there’s an enormous potential for inequity even here in Canada, despite the existence of universal health care.”
According to a press release, the research found that those living in rural communities and ethnic minorities, such as immigrants, were more likely to age within their community, due to a lack of access to long-term care, stronger community ties, and/or cultural values that prioritize family caregiving.
“If you’re aging in your home, is that home safe? Is that home allowing you to access services or is the jurisdiction that you’re in the province or the city that you’re in, providing you with enough services to meet your needs? And often times those needs will be changing,” said Quesnel-Vallée.
“You might think that’s amazing, these folks are more likely to stay home in their communities and that’s great and probably that is the case, but for I think a subset of these folks, they may very well be stuck at home because they don’t have access to long-term care,” said Clara Bolster-Foucault, a PhD candidate in the Department of Epidemiology at McGill University.
One thing that stood out to researchers as surprising was that those with higher levels of education were less likely to age in place — meaning they were more likely to end up in a seniors home.
“This is surprising because higher education is usually linked with having more resources, which could support aging in place,” said Clara Bolster-Foucault.
Both researchers looked through various factors from socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, saying there is a lot to unpack on the matter. Access in healthcare is a challenge for many which was prominently featured in the study, though note results were based within the U.S.
“In an ideal world, we would have access to primary care, access to home and community-based care, like home care for everyone, without any barriers to access but that’s not the situation that we have right now.
“We really wanted to look at sort of the equity dimension of aging and aging in place is something that is a widespread preference. The vast majority of older adults who we talk to, want to stay in their homes and in their communities as they age for as long as they can,” Bolster-Foucault added.
These findings aim to develop policies and programs – which will help ensure that all older adults can remain in their homes for as long as they are able, while improving access to services.
“From a policy level, I think that there really is a huge opportunity for the system to step up. The Canadian population is aging rapidly. Quebec is one of the fastest aging populations in Canada and we’re going to need to be able to shift the healthcare system to deliver appropriate care to this population,” Bolster-Foucault said.
The next phase of this project will be to look at social inequities in aging in place in Quebec specifically.
“Factors that relate to your identity as a person can influence both your access to the healthcare system and your ability to age in place,” she added.
“I’m hoping that can empower people to seek and access the care that they need and know that it is their right to have that care.”
