Week 4-Personal Relationships Flashcards
What’s the conceptual model of how social networks impact health (Berkman et al., 2000)?
Upstream factors:
1. Social-structural Conditions (Macro):
Socioeconomic factors, culture, politics, social change (which condition the extent, shape and nature of social networks)
- Social Networks (Mezzo): Social network structure, characteristics of network ties (which provides opportunities for psychosocial mechanisms)
Downstream factors:
1. Psychosocial Mechanisms (Micro): Social Support, Social Influence, Social engagment, person-to-person contact, access to resources & material goods (which impacts health through these pathways)
- Pathways: Health behavioural pathways, Psychological Pathways, Physiologic pathways
Does type of relationship matter? What does the literature say about interactions with family VS friends for health in later life?
Source of the relationship does seem to matter:
◦ Interactions with close network members tend to have stronger associations with mental health than more peripheral members (i.e., close friends whether positive or negative)
◦ Family relationships are enduring and consequential for well-being across the
life course (e.g. Merz et al., 2009)
◦ Evidence that friendships are as (or more?) important as family ties in predicting psychological well-being in adulthood and old age (e.g. Chen & Feeley, 2014; Lee & Szinovacz, 2016) (and in some situations you may have a family of choice e.g., LGBTQ+ members)
Are Family or Friends more important?
Contact with friends may be more important for subjective health in later life than with kin (e.g. Gillespie et al., 2015; Siu & Phillips, 2002)
◦ E.g. Presence of close friends was a predictor of loneliness among women aged 65+ living alone, regardless of whether they had family living locally (Eshbaugh, 2009)
◦ Family support less strongly related to positive psychological outcomes compared to friend support (e.g. Antonucci, 1990)
◦ Emotional support from nonkin more beneficial to wellbeing than from kin, whereas instrumental support from kin more beneficial than from non-kin (Felton & Berry, 1992)
Why are Family relationships important in later life?
-Family relationships may become even more important to well-being and life
satisfaction as individuals age (e.g. Yeung & Fung, 2007)
-Spousal relationship tends to have strongest association with life satisfaction and depressive symptoms (e.g. Lee & Szinovacz, 2016)
◦ Implications for later life transition out of marriage (widowhood; separation/divorce)
Grandparenting is an important part of the family life cycle and often a source of health
and wellbeing (e.g. Di Gessa et al., 2016)
◦ Impact of loss of contact on wellbeing? (e.g. Drew & Silverstein, 2007)
◦ What about in the case of custodial (or similar) grandparenting? (e.g. Hayslip & Kaminski, 2005)
What are the changes in family relationships with age?
Spousal:
-Changed patterns of interaction and supportive exchange
Parent-child:
◦ Opportunities for bidirectional exchange of support, guided by filial norms and family history (e.g. Lin & Wu, 2019; Whitbeck et al., 1994)
◦ Variation in patterns of assistance observed according to gender, race,
and socioeconomic status (e.g. Laditka & Laditka, 2001) (e.g., difficulties in Japan as there is a falling birth rate, and children may move elsewhere for work)
Sibling (relatively understudied):
◦ Validate reminiscences of earlier’ family experiences/ shared family history (e.g. Bedford, 1995)
◦ Emotional closeness with siblings contributes to well-being in old age
(e.g. Cicirelli, 2004)
◦ Relationships often strengthened (Van Volkom, 2006)
What’s so special about Friendships?
-Fundamental to older adults’ physical, psychological and cognitive health (e.g. Béland et al., 2005; Phelan et al., 2004; Tomini et al., 2016)
◦ Protective effect is more related to relationship quality (close friends) than to frequency (regular contacts) (Guilley et al., 2005)
◦ Relational closeness and social support influence maintenance of cognitive functioning in old age through engaging the brain (Béland et al., 2005)
Exchange of (different types of?) support (Bruggencate, et al., 2018)
-Buffer the effects of (shared?) life events that may occur in old age (e.g. Bookwala et al., 2014; deVries et al., 2014; de Vries 2018; Lilly et al., 2003) (e.g., both widowed or one is just widowed, health conditions etc., but might protect your wellbeing)
-Provide companionship and help to sustain social connectedness, which can alleviate loneliness (e.g. Huxhold et al., 2014;
Nicolaisen & Thorsen, 2017)
How do friendships change with age?
Older adults tend to have… (e.g. Ajrouch et al., 2005; Gillespie et al., 2015)
◦ smaller
◦ kin-centred social networks,
◦ which are contacted less frequently
Why might friendship networks contract
into later life? (declining factors?)
Yet, for many, it’s not a picture of decline
Friendships: ‘Better’ with age?
-Number of close confidants and amount of social support remains fairly stable (Ertel et al., 2009)
◦ Very old people have fewer casual friends than do those between 70 - 84 years, but not fewer close friends (Lang & Carstensen, 1994) For most, better, rather than diminished (Adams, 1983; Luong et al., 2012)
◦ Older adults report high levels of enjoyment and more positive perceptions of support from friends (e.g. Schnittker, 2007)
◦ Report them as more satisfying compared to younger adults (e.g., Lansford et al., 1998; Charles & Piazza, 2007)
◦ Report fewer interpersonal conflicts (e.g. Fingerman et al., 2004)
◦ More involved in local community (e.g. Carstensen, 1992)
What are the Theoretical models of adaptation in social relationships?
Disengagement theory (Cummings & Henry, 1961):
◦ Do older adults actively disengage? (idea is they do)
◦ Voluntary, mutual withdrawal, since society doesn’t properly support/accept older adults
-Negative as it seemed to encourage people to withdraw
Social exchange theory (Roberto & Scott, 1986):
◦ Do people end relationships when the risks outweigh the rewards?
◦ People assess benefits and costs associated with social relationships as they (establish and) maintain relationships
◦ Reciprocity seen as important (though evidence of age-related change in this e.g. Li et al., 2011)
Social compensation model (e.g. Ferraro & Farmer, 1995):
◦ Do people strive to maintain continuity in their social involvements by replacing,
relationships or social activities, or by strengthening existing ones to compensate for losses?
Convoy model of relationships (Antonucci & Akiyama, 1987):
◦ Do life transitions and personal and situational circumstances shape relationships?
◦ We’re surrounded by supportive others who move with them through the life course
◦ Lack of meeting opportunities as a central factor in the discontinuation of friendships
Socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen et al., 1999):
◦ Do we actively become more selective as we age, to optimise positive relationships?
◦ Proposes a change in the salience of goals in later life due to the decrease in future
time perspective – prioritise present-oriented goals (e.g., seeing them more often before it’s too late)
◦ Become more motivated to maximise satisfaction from our personal relationships
What influences friendship in later life?
Friendships evolve over the life course
◦ Patterns of expansion and contraction, and intensification and weakening (Adams,
1987)
Friendship structures vary greatly
◦ Can reflect circumstances facing the older adult including rural, frailty, accomodation, health, wellbeing, wealth, ethnicity etc.,
◦ Earlier life experiences and current age-related life events
-Since they affect older adults’ social needs, their social networks, and their friend-related cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes (Blieszner & Ogletree, 2017; Wrzus et al., 2013)
How is having friendships not the same as ageing well?
Important to recognise that merely having relationships is not an indication that someone is aging well
◦ Tendency of researchers to assume that all relationships are positive
◦ Not all personal relationships are good ones and not all social interactions affect older adults positively (research on ‘darker side’ of relationships) (e.g., Rook, 1984; 1989)
◦ Satisfaction with friends found to be a better predictor of life satisfaction than number of friends (e.g. Gillespie et al., 2014)
◦ Structural and dynamic aspects of the relationships need to be understood
No one constellation of characteristics of personal relationships is optimal for people as they age
◦ Older adults need to maintain, or develop relationships with people who help them in ways they need and want to be helped
Define Loneliness
Loneliness is a subjective negative feeling associated with someone’s perception
that their relationships with others are quantitatively and/or qualitatively deficient (de Jong Gierveld, 1987)
Define Social Isolation
Social isolation is the (more) objective measure of the absence of relationships,
ties or contacts with others (Victor et al., 2009)
Loneliness is NOT the same as Social Isolation
“…an individual may be lonely in a crowd, socially contented while alone.”
(Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008)
What is Isolation associated with?
Isolation is associated with poorer health
outcomes (e.g. Shaw et al., 2007)
Older adults at increased risk of isolation
(different from loneliness)
◦ ~17% have less than weekly contact with
family, friends and neighbours (~11% less
than monthly) (Victor et al., 2003)
◦ 2/5 say TV is main source of company (Age UK, 2014)
◦ Over half of people aged 75+ live alone (ONS, 2010)
What’s the Prevalence of Loneliness in the UK? (European Social Survey, 2006)
(n=2,393)
74.2% never lonely
18.4% lonely some of the time
7.4% lonely all or most of the time
-Shows treatment for the elderly should not be the same as not everyone feels lonely therefore, being treated as such would be quite demeaning for them.
