Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:02:37.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Profiles of social relations among older adults: a cross-cultural approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2008

KATHERINE L. FIORI ,
TONI C. ANTONUCCI  and
HIROKO AKIYAMA
KATHERINE L. FIORI
Affiliation:
Intercultural Institute on Human Development and Aging, Long Island University, New York City.
TONI C. ANTONUCCI
Affiliation:
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
HIROKO AKIYAMA
Affiliation:
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Program of Gerontological Research, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study extends previous research on the profiles of social relations in three ways: (1) by including both functional and qualitative characteristics of social relations; (2) by examining the association of these profiles with mental and physical health and mortality; and (3) by exploring these profiles and associations in two cultures. Using samples of approximately 500 adults aged 60 or more years from the Social Relations and Mental Health over the Life Course studies in both the United States and Japan, separate cluster analyses were conducted for each country. The common or shared network types were labelled ‘diverse’, ‘restricted’, ‘friend-focused’ and ‘family-focused’, but in the US we found two types of ‘friend-focused’ networks (supported and unsupported) and two types of ‘restricted’ networks (structurally- and functionally-restricted). In addition, we found a unique network type in Japan: ‘married and distal’. Multivariate analyses of variance and Cox regressions revealed that whereas individuals in the functionally restricted network type had the worse physical and mental health in the US, Americans in the structurally-restricted network type had the lowest survival rates at a 12-year follow-up. Interestingly, there were no wellbeing differences by network type in Japan. The findings have been interpreted in the light of social relations theories, with special emphasis on the importance of taking a multidimensional perspective and exploring cultural variation.

Keywords

network typescluster analysisdepressive symptomatologymorbidity
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , February 2008 , pp. 203 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, G., Anderson, S. L. and Adonu, J. K. 2004. The cultural grounding of closeness and intimacy. In Mashek, D. J. and Aron, A. (eds) Handbook of Closeness and Intimacy. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, New Jersey, 321–39.Google Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. 1986. Hierarchical mapping technique. Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging, 10, 4, 10–12.Google Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. 1990. Social supports and social relationships. In Binstock, R. H. and George, L. K. (eds) Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences. Third edition, Academic, San Diego, California, 205–26.Google Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. 2001. Social relations: an examination of social networks, social support, and sense of control. In Birren, J. E. and Schaie, K. W. (eds) Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. Fifth edition, Academic, San Diego, California, 427–53.Google Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. and Akiyama, H. 1987. Social networks in adult life and a preliminary examination of the convoy model. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 5, 519–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. and Akiyama, H. 1994. Convoys of attachment and social relations in children, adolescents, and adults. In Nestmann, F. and Hurrelmann, K. (eds) Social Networks and Social Support in Childhood and Adolescence. De Gruyter, Oxford, England, 37–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. and Akiyama, H. 1995. Convoys of social relations: family and friendships within a life span context. In Blieszner, R. and Bedford, V. H. (eds) Handbook of Aging and the Family. Greenwood, Westport, Connecticut, 355–71.Google Scholar
Avlund, K., Lund, R., Holstein, B. E., Due, P., Sakari-Rantala, R. and Heikkinen, R.-L. 2004. The impact of structural and functional characteristics of social relations as determinants of functional decline. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 59B, 1, S44–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkman, L. F. and Syme, S. L. 1979. Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents. American Journal of Epidemiology, 109, 2, 186–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birditt, K. S. and Fingerman, K. L. 2003. Age and gender differences in adults' descriptions of emotional reactions to interpersonal problems. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 58B, 4, P237–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosworth, H. B. and Schaie, K. W. 1997. The relationship of social environment, social networks, and health outcomes in the Seattle Longitudinal Study: two analytical approaches. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 52B, 5, P197–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Central Intelligence Agency 2006. The World Factbook: Japan. Available online at http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html [Accessed December 2006].Google Scholar
Cicirelli, V. G. 1989. Feelings of attachment to siblings and wellbeing in later life. Psychology and Aging, 4, 2, 211–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicirelli, V. G. 1995. Strengthening sibling relationships in the later years. In Smith, G. C., Tobin, S. S., Roberston-Tchabo, E. A. and Power, P. W. (eds) Strengthening Aging Families: Diversity in Practice and Policy. Sage, Thousand Oaks, California, 45–60.Google Scholar
Cox, D. R. 1972. Regression models and life tables. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, B34, 187–220.Google Scholar
Dean, A., Kolody, B. and Wood, P. 1990. Effects of social support from various sources on depression in elderly persons. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 31, June, 148–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dykstra, P. A. 1990. Next of (Non)kin: The Importance of Primary Relationships for Older Adults' Wellbeing. Swets and Zeitlinger, Lisse, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Felton, B. J. and Berry, C. A. 1992. Do the sources of the urban elderly's social support determine its psychological consequences? Psychology and Aging, 7, 1, 89–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fingerman, K. L. 2004. The consequential stranger: peripheral relationships across the life span. In Lang, F. R. and Fingerman, K. L. (eds) Growing Together: Personal Relationships Across the Lifespan. Cambridge University Press, New York, 183–209.Google Scholar
Fiori, K. L., Antonucci, T. C. and Cortina, K. S. 2006. Social network typologies and mental health among older adults. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 61B, 1, P25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurung, R. A. R., Taylor, S. E. and Seeman, T. E. 2003. Accounting for changes in social support among married older adults: insights from the MacArthur studies of successful aging. Psychology and Aging, 18, 3, 487–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hair, J. H. Jr and Black, W. C. 2000. Cluster analysis. In Grimm, L. G. and Yarnold, P. R. (eds) Reading and Understanding More Multivariate Statistics. American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 147–205.Google Scholar
Ho, S. C. 1991. Health and social predictors of mortality in an elderly Chinese cohort. American Journal of Epidemiology, 133, 9, 907–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Höllinger, F. and Haller, M. 1990. Kinship and social networks in modern societies: A cross-cultural comparison among seven nations. European Sociological Review, 6, 2, 103–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Izuhara, M. 2004. Negotiating family support? The ‘generational contract’ between long-term care and inheritance. Journal of Social Policy, 33, 4, 649–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janevic, M. R., Ajrouch, K. J., Merline, A., Akiyama, H. and Antonucci, T. C. 2000. The social relations-physical health connection: a comparison of elderly samples from the United States and Japan. Journal of Health Psychology, 5, 4, 413–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC) 2004. Population 15 years-old and over by Age Group, Sex and Marital Status (1920–2000). Table 2.3, Year 2000 Census Data. MIAC, Tokyo. Available online at http://www.stat.go.jp/data/chouki/zuhyou/02-03.xls [Accessed February 2006].Google Scholar
Kahn, R. L. and Antonucci, T. C. 1980. Convoys over the life course: attachment, roles, and social support. In Baltes, P. B. and Brim, O. B. (eds) Life-Span Development and Behavior. Volume 3, Academic, New York, 253–68.Google Scholar
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. and Newton, T. L. 2001. Marriage and health: his and hers. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 4, 472–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitayama, S., Markus, H. R. and Kurokawa, M. 2000. Culture, emotion, and well-being: good feelings in Japan and the United States. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 1, 93–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koropeckyj-Cox, T. 1998. Loneliness and depression in middle and old age: are the childless more vulnerable? Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 53B, 6, S303–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koyano, W., Hashimoto, M., Fukawa, T., Shibata, H. and Gunji, A. 1994. The social support system of the Japanese elderly. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 9, 3, 323–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E. 2004. Links between family relationships and best friendships in the United States and Japan. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 59, 4, 287–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larson, R., Mannell, R. and Zuzanek, J. 1986. Daily well-being of older adults with friends and family. Psychology and Aging, 1, 2, 117–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lie, J. 2001. Multi-ethnic Japan. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Litwin, H. 1995. The social networks of elderly immigrants: an analytic typology. Journal of Aging Studies, 9, 2, 155–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litwin, H. 1996. A cross-national social network analysis. In Litwin, H. (ed.) The Social Networks of Older People: A Cross-national Analysis. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 205–21.Google Scholar
Litwin, H. 2001. Social network type and morale in old age. The Gerontologist, 41, 4, 516–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Litwin, H. 2004. Social networks, ethnicity and public home-care utilisation. Ageing & Society, 24, 6, 921–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litwin, H. and Landau, R. 2000. Social network type and social support among the old-old. Journal of Aging Studies, 14, 2, 213–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lüscher, K. and Pillemer, K. 1998. Intergenerational ambivalence: a new approach to the study of parent-child relations in later life. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 2, 413–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magai, C., Consedine, N. S., King, A. R. and Gillespie, M. 2003. Physical hardiness and styles of socioemotional functioning in later life. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 58B, 5, P269–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markus, H. R. and Kitayama, S. 1991. Culture and the self: implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 2, 224–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matt, G. E. and Dean, A. 1993. Social support from friends and psychological distress among elderly persons: moderator effects of age. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 34, September, 187–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maxson, P. J., Berg, S. and McClearn, G. 1997. Multidimensional patterns of aging: a cluster-analytic approach. Experimental Aging Research, 23, 1, 23–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Melkas, T. and Jylhä, M. 1996. Social network characteristics and social network types among elderly people in Finland. In Litwin, H. (ed.) The Social Networks of Older People: A Cross-National Analysis. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 99–116.Google Scholar
Miller, J. G. 1999. Cultural psychology: implications for basic psychological theory. Psychological Science, 10, 2, 85–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J. G. 2002. Bringing culture to basic psychological theory – beyond individualism and collectivism: comment on Oyserman et al. (2002). Psychological Bulletin, 128, 1, 97–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Okabayashi, H., Liang, J., Krause, N., Akiyama, H. and Sugisawa, H. 2004. Mental health among older adults in Japan: do sources of social support and negative interaction make a difference? Social Science and Medicine, 59, 11, 2259–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmore, E. B. and Maeda, D. 1985. The Honorable Elders Revisted=Otoshiyori saiko: A Revised Cross-cultural Analysis of Aging in Japan. Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Phillips, J., Bernard, M., Phillipson, C. and Ogg, J. 2000. Social support in later life: a study of three areas. British Journal of Social Work, 30, 6, 837–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinquart, M. 2003. Loneliness in married, widowed, divorced, and never-married older adults. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 20, 1, 31–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radloff, L. S. 1977. The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 3, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rokach, A., Bacanli, H. and Ramberan, G. 2000. Coping with loneliness: a cross-cultural comparison. European Psychologist, 5, 4, 302–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rook, K. S. 1990. Stressful aspects of older adults’ social relationships: current theory and research. In Stephens, M. A. P., Crowther, J. H., Hobfoll, S. E. and Tennenbaum, D. L. (eds) Stress and Coping in Later-life Families. Hemisphere, New York, 173–92.Google Scholar
Rothbaum, F., Pott, M., Azuma, H., Mikaye, K. and Weisz, J. 2000. The development of close relationships in Japan and the United States: paths of symbiotic harmony and generative tension. Child Development, 71, 5, 1121–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russell, D. W. and Cutrona, C. E. 1991. Social support, stress, and depressive symptoms among the elderly: test of a process model. Psychology and Aging, 6, 2, 190–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryff, C. D. and Singer, B. 2000. Interpersonal flourishing: a positive health agenda for the new millennium. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 1, 30–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumaker, J. F., Shea, J. D., Monfries, M. M. and Groth-Marnat, G. 1993. Loneliness and life satisfaction in Japan and Australia. Journal of Psychology, 127, 1, 65–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seeman, T. E. 1996. Social ties and health: the benefits of social integration. Annals of Epidemiology, 6, 5, 442–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seeman, T. E. 2000. Health promoting effects of friends and family on health outcomes in older adults. American Journal of Health Promotion, 14, 6, 362–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simons, R.L. 1983–4. Specificity and substitution in the social networks of the elderly. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 18, 2, 121–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J. and Baltes, P. B. 1997. Profiles of psychological functioning in the old and oldest old. Psychology and Aging, 12, 3, 458–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stone, L. and Rosenthal, C. 1996. Profiles of the social networks of Canada's elderly: an analysis of 1990 General Social Survey data. In Litwin, H. (ed.) The Social Networks of Older People: A Cross-national Analysis. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 77–97.Google Scholar
Sugimoto, Y. 1997. Gender stratification and the family system. In Sugimoto, Y. (ed.) An Introduction to Japanese Society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 136–68.Google Scholar
Sugisawa, H., Liang, J. and Liu, X. 1994. Social networks, social support, and mortality among older people in Japan. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 49, 1, S3–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sugisawa, H., Shibata, H., Hougham, G. W., Sugihara, Y. and Liang, J. 2002. The impact of social ties on depressive symptoms in US and Japanese elderly. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 4, 785–804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, K. and Sakamoto, A. 2000. Assessing social relationships in adolescents and adults: constructing and validating the Affective Relationships Scale. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 4, 451–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, K., Ohara, N., Antonucci, T. C. and Akiyama, H. 2002. Commonalities and differences in close relationships among the Americans and Japanese: a comparison by the individualism/collectivism concept. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26, 5, 453–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, K., Tamura, J. and Tokoro, M. 1997. Patterns of social relationships and psychological well-being among the elderly. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21, 3, 417–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triandis, H. C. 2001. Individualism-collectivism and personality. Journal of Personality, 69, 6, 907–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
US Census Bureau 2003. Marital Status for the Population 15 Years and over by Age for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: 2000. Table 1, Census 2000. Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, Washington DC. Available online at http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t27/tab01.pdf [Accessed December 2006].Google Scholar
van Tilburg, T. and van Groenou, M. B. 2002. Network and health changes among older Dutch adults. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 4, 697–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinfurt, K. P. 1995. Multivariate analysis of variance. In Grimm, L. G. and Yarnold, P. R. (eds) Reading and Understanding Multivariate Statistics. American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 245–76.Google Scholar
Weiss, R. 1974. The provisions of social relationships. In Rubin, Z. (ed.) Doing Unto Others. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 17–26.Google Scholar
Wenger, G. C. 1997. Social networks and the prediction of elderly people at risk. Ageing and Mental Health, 1, 4, 311–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willson, A. E., Shuey, K. M. and Elder, G. H. Jr 2003. Ambivalence in the relationship of adult children to aging parents and in-laws. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 4, 1055–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar