Lay definitions of family and social capital in later life

Abstract

This study explores the lay definitions of family in old age and their consequences for social capital in using an egocentric network approach. Data were derived from a subsample of 578 elders (aged 65 and older) from the Vivre/Leben/Vivere (VLV) study, a large survey addressing family life and health conditions of older people in Switzerland. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to create a typology of family networks based on family members who were cited as significant. We identified six family networks: Conjugal, Son, Daughter, Sibling, Kinship, and Sparse. These feature bonding and bridging social capital unequally. Therefore, one should take into account the lay definitions of family to better understand social capital within families in later life.

Conflict Structures in Family Networks of Older Adults and Their Relationship With Health-Related Quality of Life

“…The conflict density index varied from 0 = no family members are connected through conflicting ties to 1 = all included family members are interconnected through conflicting ties ( M = 0.11, SD = 0.19). It is noteworthy that, compared with indexes found in studies on support in personal or family networks ( Cornwell, 2011 ; Girardin & Widmer, 2015 ), the mean of the conflict density is low and its distribution is nonnormal. Therefore, we dichotomized this index, choosing the average of the conflict density index (.11) as a threshold to distinguish family networks with high and low conflict density, which means that there is tension in at least 1 out of 10 possible relationships in the higher density category.…”

Ambivalence in Later‐Life Family Networks: Beyond Intergenerational Dyads

“…To investigate ambivalence at the meso level of families, we transpose Lüscher's (, ) theoretical typology into the framework of social network analysis, in which dyads are considered as interdependent parts of a network whose features account for much of what happens in any of them (Wasserman & Faust, ). Such tools have been used in social gerontology to explore family support structures (Cornwell, , ; Girardin & Widmer, ). We propose using these tools to assess the relative dominance of conflicted and supportive dyads in the overall dynamics of older adults' family networks (see Table ).…”

“…Family networks are diverse in their composition. Some include only a spouse, children, and grandchildren, but others include a wider variety of ties such as siblings, distant kin, in‐laws, step‐relatives, and friends (Girardin & Widmer, ; Treas & Marcum, ). Different family ties may have unequal likelihoods of being ambivalent.…”

The relation of low cognitive abilities to low well-being in old age is attenuated in individuals with greater cognitive reserve and greater social capital accumulated over the life course

“…Second, with respect to social capital (Antonucci, Ajrouch, & Birditt, 2014;Girardin & Widmer, 2015;Lin, 2006;Widmer, 2010), an individual's personal network such as family and friends has been shown to have positive consequences for physical and psychological well-being in old age (Bell & Bell, 2012;Fuller-Iglesias, Webster, & Antonucci, 2015;Huxhold et al, 2014;Nguyen, Chatters, Taylor, & Mouzon, 2016). Moreover, social capital through family and friends has been found to be related to better cognitive status and reduced cognitive decline in old age (Barnes, de Leon, Wilson, Bienias, & Evans, 2004;Bennett, Schneider, Tang, Arnold, & Wilson, 2006;Kimura, Takeda, Ohura, & Imai, 2017).…”