Confidant Network Types and Well-Being Among Older Europeans

Abstract

The study demonstrates the utility of name-generating network inventories in understanding the social capital of older persons. It also shows that accessible family ties are strong correlates of well-being in this population. Finally, it documents the importance of improving the means to detect the small but significant subgroup of isolated older people-those who have no confidants on whom they may rely.

Social networks and quality of life of elderly persons: a review and critical analysis of literature

“…The samples that have been employed tend to be made up of more than 30 individuals, while more than half of the studies analyzed in this review 7,25,26,29,30,37,38,42 made use of representative samples. Thus, probabilistic selection of the elements to be studied within a determined temporal and geographical context was preferred.…”

“…relations with spouse and children, concomitant with relations of friendship with individuals outside the family) and QOL/well-being 23,26,36,37 .…”

“…Emotional closeness is a feature of the social network that has been operationalized in different ways: as the degree of emotional proximity of the elderly person to the members of their social network 37 or as the number of emotionally close people 5 .…”

“…Overall, one can say that a high degree of emotional closeness has been associated with high levels of QOL/well-being in old age 5,7,21,25,26,37 . The theory of social-emotional selectivity, already mentioned in this article, contributes to explaining the positive contribution of emotional closeness to the well-being of the elderly.…”

Types of Non-kin Networks and Their Association With Survival in Late Adulthood: A Latent Class Approach

“…At the same time, social isolation has been argued to be a chronically stressful condition contributing to the accumulation of age-related morbidity and functional decline over the life course, thereby bearing the risk of accelerated aging (Berkman, 1988). As there is large variability in survival, and integration in social networks varies within and across people, there is a growing interest in determining which types of social networks relate to high chances of survival in old age.Most studies developing network typologies have so far focused on the overall social network including kin and non-kin (e.g., family-based network vs. friends-based network) and subsequently related types to mental health (Fiori & Jager, 2012;Gibney & McGovern, 2011;Litwin & Stoeckel, 2014) Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 2017, Vol. 72, No.…”