TY - JOUR
T1 - Social networks and mental health among older Europeans
T2 - are there age effects?
AU - Litwin, Howard
AU - Stoeckel, Kimberly J.
AU - Schwartz, Ella
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - This study examined different components of personal social networks—structure, interaction, and quality—and the extent to which each is related to mental health among a 65+ sample (n = 26,784) taken from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. The first aim of the study was to determine which network components had the strongest associations with the number of depressive symptoms, measured on the EURO-D scale. Secondly, the study considered if and how age impacted the associations between social network and depression, using interaction terms that paired age category (age 65–79; age 80+) with the score on each network component. Hierarchical OLS regressions revealed that social network quality and network structure were both negatively related to the number of depressive symptoms. The association between network size (structure) and depression was even greater among those 80+. Age differences were also found for network interaction. More frequent contact with the network was related to a greater extent of depressive symptoms, but only among respondents aged 80 and older. Closer geographic proximity was related to having fewer depressive symptoms, but only among respondents aged 65–79. The findings imply that the association between meaningful personal relationships and depression in late life is nuanced by both network characteristics and by age.
AB - This study examined different components of personal social networks—structure, interaction, and quality—and the extent to which each is related to mental health among a 65+ sample (n = 26,784) taken from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. The first aim of the study was to determine which network components had the strongest associations with the number of depressive symptoms, measured on the EURO-D scale. Secondly, the study considered if and how age impacted the associations between social network and depression, using interaction terms that paired age category (age 65–79; age 80+) with the score on each network component. Hierarchical OLS regressions revealed that social network quality and network structure were both negatively related to the number of depressive symptoms. The association between network size (structure) and depression was even greater among those 80+. Age differences were also found for network interaction. More frequent contact with the network was related to a greater extent of depressive symptoms, but only among respondents aged 80 and older. Closer geographic proximity was related to having fewer depressive symptoms, but only among respondents aged 65–79. The findings imply that the association between meaningful personal relationships and depression in late life is nuanced by both network characteristics and by age.
KW - Depression
KW - Network satisfaction
KW - Network size
KW - Proximity
KW - SHARE
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84931059665&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10433-015-0347-y
DO - 10.1007/s10433-015-0347-y
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AN - SCOPUS:84931059665
SN - 1613-9372
VL - 12
SP - 299
EP - 309
JO - European Journal of Ageing
JF - European Journal of Ageing
IS - 4
ER -