The Impact of COVID-19 on social isolation and mental health among middle-aged and older adults: addressing immigrant status, gender, and place-based geographic disparities

Despite considerable empirical attention to the individual impact of gender, immigrant status, geographic and other disparities on mental health and well-being in middle and later life, their combined implications and the mechanisms through which they operate, remain unclear. The proposed study provides an original and innovative approach to addressing this issue, focusing on their impact on the mental health and well-being of middle-aged and older Canadians as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research will contribute to knowledge in this area by examining: how gender and other experiences related to social location work together to influence mental health and well-being during the pandemic; the extent to which their impact on well-being reflects differences in social isolation; and whether these relationships changed over the course of the pandemic.