Many studies have demonstrated that social relationships confer mental health benefits. This paper aims to identify whether and how reciprocity in social relationships predicts or is associated with mental health benefits as well as with continuity in elderly people's social relationships. The studies reviewed in this paper show that, among elders, being in a balanced or underbenefited reciprocal position predicts better mental health and life quality than being in an overbenefited position. Throughout the course of life, reciprocity evens out present and earlier reciprocal imbalances, securing continuity in close relationships—particularly between spouses and between elderly parents and adult children. In friendships, securing continuity seems to be based on the maintenance of independence based on balanced reciprocal relations, making these relationships more vulnerable. Due to the problems of conceptualization and measurement in the reviewed studies, one should be cautious in stating a final conclusion that the reciprocity norm has a universal positive effect on mental health and continuity in elderly people's relationships.

No abstract

A partially-controlled intervention study was performed. Female patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were allocated to three groups: the network intervention group (n = 104), the attention control group (n = 85), and the no-treatment control group (n = 75). The network intervention consisted of an assessment session and a network meeting. Patients were assessed at baseline and approximately 10 and 18 months after the intervention. The network intervention group reported an increase in network size. Daily emotional support increased for the intervention patients compared with patients in the attention control group. The degree of social dysfunction was reduced for patients in the intervention group compared to patients in the no-treatment control group. Furthermore, for single patients, the intervention significantly increased the social network size and improved both social functioning, and perceived overall health, compared to both control groups. The results suggest that the social needs of single patients should be given special attention in clinical settings.

The objective was to investigate the impact of physical disability and disease duration on the amount of social support received by female patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Two hundred sixty-four patients were assessed in a cross-sectional study. Disease duration had a negative relationship to daily emotional support; the length of disease duration was related to less emotional support. A combination of long disease duration and high disability was related to a low degree of problem-oriented emotional support. High physical disability was associated with less social companionship. Patients with high disability and few friends and patients with high disability and few neighbours reported less social companionship than patients with high disability and four or more friends or three or more neighbours. The combination high disability and few friends were associated with less problem-oriented instrumental support. Number of friends, age, and personality type all contributed to the variance in social support.