The association between supportive social ties and autonomic nervous system function-differences between family ties and friendship ties in a cohort of older adults.

ABSTRACT: Supportive family and friendship ties can serve different functions and thus might show different associations with an individual's health. Particularly, older adults might show varying health benefits of different types of supportive ties depending on their marital and retirement status. Our aim is to analyze relationships between different types of supportive social ties and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, a physiological indicator of health that can help to establish the biological plausibility of the association-measured by heart rate variability (HRV). We present cross-sectional linear regression analyses of a German cohort of community-dwelling older adults (2008-2010; n = 1,548; mean age = 68.7 years). Our findings indicate that supportive friendship ties show signif

SUBMITTER: Bosle C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9156582 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature