scholarly journals Active ageing in Europe: are changes in social capital associated with engagement, initiation and maintenance of activity in later life?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Pryanka Boerio ◽  
Emma Garavaglia ◽  
Alessandra Gaia
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Social Network Size ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Charity Work

Abstract The demographic landscape of European countries is rapidly changing because of population ageing; in this context, societies are called to offer older people opportunities to age actively. Although ‘active ageing’ has been broadly explored, there is still room to further our knowledge on the individual conditions that may favour or hinder activity in later life. This study aims to contribute to the literature in this field by focusing on the role of social capital. Specifically, it explores, through logistic regression models, how social capital and changes in social capital are associated with engagement in, the initiation of and continued participation in various domains of activity: volunteering and charity work, active participation in political or community-related organisations, informal care-giving and paid work. The data analysed stem from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We focused on people aged 55+ participating in Waves 4–6. The key findings are: (a) having a larger social network is positively associated with participation in and the initiation of activities; (b) receiving social support (rarely) may stimulate reciprocity and thus care-giving; and (c) an increase in social network size is positively associated with initiation and maintenance of activities during later life.

Social capital networks in sports spectatorship and participation

2020 ◽  
pp. 101269022094086
Author(s):  
Adam Gemar
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Cultural Consumption ◽  
Capital Social ◽  
Cultural Patterns ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Social Network Size ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between social capital and sport has been an increasing focus of scholarly literature in recent decades. However, very few of these studies consider social capital alongside theories of cultural consumption. Even fewer seek to assess the place of social capital in sports spectatorship. Taking primarily a Bourdieusian and neo-Bourdieusian theoretical approach, this study seeks to rectify these gaps by analysing three key components of social capital – social network size, social network prestige and social network variety – and how they relate to patterns of sports spectatorship and participation. Results indicate that the type of social capital that is most predictive seems to rely heavily upon the nature of the cleavages between cultural patterns of sports engagement. While the size of social network seems most universally applicable to predict sports engagement generally, network variety also seems to be highly applicable to the most omnivorous engagement profiles. Finally, network prestige appears applicable to some highbrow profiles of sports engagement.

Gender Differences in Social Network Size and Satisfaction in Adults in Their 70s

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre McLaughlin ◽  
Dimitrios Vagenas ◽  
Nancy A. Pachana ◽  
Nelufa Begum ◽  
Annette Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Social Network Size ◽  
Sensory Impairments

Strong social support is associated with lower mortality and morbidity and better self-rated health in later life. The aim of this study was to compare social network size and satisfaction in men ( N = 2589) and women ( n = 3152), aged 72—78 years. Women reported significantly larger networks (Difference 1.36, 95% CI 0.89, 1.83) than men. However, being separated, divorced or single had a significantly greater impact on men’s social networks (Difference 0.92, 95% CI 0.17, 1.68). Poor mental health and sensory impairments were associated with smaller networks and lower satisfaction with support for both men and women.

Personal networks and mortality in later life: racial and ethnic differences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam R Roth
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Differences ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
All Cause Mortality

ABSTRACT Background Social network characteristics are associated with health outcomes in later life, including mortality. Moreover, there are well-established mortality disparities across race and ethnicity. Although previous studies have documented these associations separately, limited research considers the two in tandem. The present study addressed how the associations between social network characteristics and mortality differ across race and ethnicity in later life. Methods Data were from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. At baseline, 3005 respondents were interviewed with regards to their health and social networks. Five years later, 430 respondents had died. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of all-cause mortality over the study period. Results Network size and kin composition were negatively associated with mortality, whereas density was positively associated with mortality. There was a stronger negative association between the kin composition and mortality for Hispanic respondents compared with white and black respondents. Conclusion The present study contributes to the large literature documenting the link between social networks and health by highlighting the importance of analyzing networks through a sociocultural lens.

scholarly journals Attachment, Social Network Size, and Patterns of Social Exchange in Later Life

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine L. Fiori ◽  
Nathan S. Consedine ◽  
Eva-Maria Merz
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Social Network Size

Extraverts Have Larger Social Network Layers

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas V. Pollet ◽  
Sam G. B. Roberts ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Outer Layer ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Emotional Intensity ◽  
Emotional Closeness ◽  
Network Layer ◽  
Network Layers ◽  
Social Network Size

Previous studies showed that extraversion influences social network size. However, it is unclear how extraversion affects the size of different layers of the network, and how extraversion relates to the emotional intensity of social relationships. We examined the relationships between extraversion, network size, and emotional closeness for 117 individuals. The results demonstrated that extraverts had larger networks at every layer (support clique, sympathy group, outer layer). The results were robust and were not attributable to potential confounds such as sex, though they were modest in size (raw correlations between extraversion and size of network layer, .20 < r < .23). However, extraverts were not emotionally closer to individuals in their network, even after controlling for network size. These results highlight the importance of considering not just social network size in relation to personality, but also the quality of relationships with network members.

scholarly journals Social Networks and Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312098525
Author(s):  
Balazs Kovacs ◽  
Nicholas Caplan ◽  
Samuel Grob ◽  
Marissa King
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Social Network Data ◽  
Social Network Size

We utilize longitudinal social network data collected pre–COVID-19 in June 2019 and compare them with data collected in the midst of COVID in June 2020. We find significant decreases in network density and global network size following a period of profound social isolation. While there is an overall increase in loneliness during this era, certain social network characteristics of individuals are associated with smaller increases in loneliness. Specifically, we find that people with fewer than five “very close” relationships report increases in loneliness. We further find that face-to-face interactions, as well as the duration and frequency of interactions with very close ties, are associated with smaller increases in loneliness during the pandemic. We also report on factors that do not moderate the effect of social isolation on perceived loneliness, such as gender, age, or overall social network size.

scholarly journals Online social network size is reflected in human brain structure

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1732) ◽  
pp. 1327-1334 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kanai ◽  
B. Bahrami ◽  
R. Roylance ◽  
G. Rees
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Real World ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Online Social Network ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Matter Density ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Social Network Size

The increasing ubiquity of web-based social networking services is a striking feature of modern human society. The degree to which individuals participate in these networks varies substantially for reasons that are unclear. Here, we show a biological basis for such variability by demonstrating that quantitative variation in the number of friends an individual declares on a web-based social networking service reliably predicted grey matter density in the right superior temporal sulcus, left middle temporal gyrus and entorhinal cortex. Such regions have been previously implicated in social perception and associative memory, respectively. We further show that variability in the size of such online friendship networks was significantly correlated with the size of more intimate real-world social groups. However, the brain regions we identified were specifically associated with online social network size, whereas the grey matter density of the amygdala was correlated both with online and real-world social network sizes. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the size of an individual's online social network is closely linked to focal brain structure implicated in social cognition.

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