Social Network Type and Subjective Well-being in a National Sample of Older Americans
TLDR
Social network type was found to be associated with each of the well-being indicators after adjusting for demographic and health confounders and can serve as a basis for risk assessment as well as a means for determining the efficacy of interventions.Abstract:
Purpose: The study considers the social networks of older Americans, a population for whom there have been few studies of social network type. It also examines associations between network types and well-being indicators: loneliness, anxiety, and happiness. Design and Methods: A subsample of persons aged 65 years and older from the first wave of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project was employed (N = 1,462). We applied K-means cluster analysis to derive social network types using 7 criterion variables. In the multivariate stage, the well-being outcomes were regressed on the network type construct and on background and health characteristics by means of logistic regression. Results: Five social network types were derived: “diverse,” “friend,” “congregant,” “family,” and “restricted.” Social network type was found to be associated with each of the well-being indicators after adjusting for demographic and health confounders. Respondents embedded in network types characterized by greater social capital tended to exhibit better well-being in terms of less loneliness, less anxiety, and greater happiness. Implications: Knowledge about differing network types should make gerontological practitioners more aware of the varying interpersonal milieus in which older people function. Adopting network type assessment as an integral part of intake procedures and tracing network shifts over time can serve as a basis for risk assessment as well as a means for determining the efficacy of interventions.read more
Citations
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Social capital as a resource for mental well-being in older people: a systematic review
TL;DR: Family and friends at the micro level are considered to be the key factors in generating social capital and well-being in older people, and there is no ‘gold standard’ of how to measure social capital or mental well-well-being.
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Polypharmacy prevalence among older adults based on the survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe.
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Social network types and the health of older adults: exploring reciprocal associations
Ting Li,Yanlong Zhang +1 more
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that there are strong reciprocal associations between older adults' health conditions and network types, and programs designed to enhance healthy aging to focus on improving the bridging social capital of older adults so that they can break the vicious cycle between network isolation and poor health conditions.
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