Facebook as a source of social connectedness in older adults

This study examines for the first time whether - and subsequently the extent to which - socialconnectedness can be derived from Facebook in a population of older Facebook users. Participants(N ¼ 280) were aged between 55 and 81 years (Mage ¼ 61.28 years). Exploratory factor analysis(maximum likelihood with direct oblimin rotation) revealed that Facebook social connectednessemerged as a separate factor to offline social connectedness, with correlations between the factorsindicating that they were distinct constructs. In addition, participants reported levels of Facebook-derivedsocial connectedness similar to those seen in younger samples in previous research. Future directionsfor research include identifying the mechanisms by which Facebook social connectedness mightbe associated with positive outcomes in older populations. Given the global rate of population ageing,these findings have important implications in terms of the delivery of social capital in older adults