The association of physical activity with loneliness, social isolation, and selected psychological protective factors among older adults

•The primary objectives of this study were to investigate the association of physical activity levels with 1) loneliness and social isolation; 2) protective factors: resilience, purpose-in-life, and perception of aging; and 3) the impact of these factors on healthcare expenditures across physical activity levels.•Highlight 2: Hypotheses to be tested included•Higher levels of physical activity will be associated with lower social isolation but may not be associated with lower loneliness.•Higher levels of physical activity will be associated with high resilience, high purpose-in-life, and positive perception of aging.•Higher levels of physical activity will mitigate the excess medical expenditures associated with at-risk levels of these psychological factors.