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Social Networks, Social Cohesion, and Later-Life Health

Social Indicators Research volume 126, pages 1175–1187 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Our study contributes to the literature acknowledging the joint role of social networks and social cohesion in shaping individual’s health, focusing on the older population aged 50 and over. Exploiting rich ego-centered social network data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and following the conceptual model of social integration and health proposed by Berkman et al. (Soc Sci Med 51:843–857. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00065-4, 2000), we estimate multilevel models of self-reported and observer-measured later-life health outcomes. These models simultaneously account for (a) characteristics of 39,551 respondents’ personal social networks and (b) a measure of social cohesion—namely, participation in social organizations—across 57 Continental European regions, clustered in 14 countries. We find significant associations between individuals’ health and various social network characteristics (size, support, quality) as well as social cohesion. Moreover, cross-level interaction effects suggest that the social-network-health nexus is contextually bound. We conclude with a discussion of limitations and perspectives for future research.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for comments by three anonymous reviewers. This paper uses data from SHARE Wave 4 release 1.1.1, as of March 28th 2013 (DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w4.111). The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th Framework Programme (Project QLK6-CT-2001-00360 in the thematic programme Quality of Life), through the 6th Framework Programme (Projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE, CIT5-CT-2005-028857, and SHARELIFE, CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and through the 7th Framework Programme (SHARE-PREP, No. 211909, SHARE-LEAP, No. 227822 and SHARE M4, No. 261982). Additional funding from the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, R21 AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG BSR06-11 and OGHA 04-064) and the German Ministry of Education and Research as well as from various national sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org for a full list of funding institutions).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology—University of Cologne, Greinstr. 2, 50939, Cologne, Germany

    Christian Deindl & Karsten Hank

  2. Institute of Sociology, Technical University Dortmund, Emil-Figge-Str. 50, 44227, Dortmund, Germany

    Martina Brandt

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  1. Christian Deindl
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Correspondence to Karsten Hank.

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Deindl, C., Brandt, M. & Hank, K. Social Networks, Social Cohesion, and Later-Life Health. Soc Indic Res 126, 1175–1187 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0926-5

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Keywords

  • Social networks
  • Social cohesion
  • Health
  • Multilevel analysis
  • SHARE