Comparing Neighbors and Friends in Age-Related Network Changes.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To assess how the role of neighbors and friends in people's networks changes with age and how this is affected by cohort, marriage, employment, and socioeconomic status. The hypothesis is that for most aspects of the network, friends lose "importance" as people become older, with neighbors gradually becoming more dominant in the nonkin network.

Methods

Data are used for people aged 55-90 between 1999 and 2019 from the Swiss Household Panel (N = 5,585). A total of 4 network aspects were measured: size, contact, practical support, and emotional support. Measures for neighbors and friends were compared and analyzed with fixed-effects and hybrid-effects regression models on person-year observations.

Results

The sizes of both network segments declined with age b

SUBMITTER: Kalmijn M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11304952 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature