Collecting family network data

Aims: The present study set out to investigate the relation of psychological stress to cognitive performance and its interplay with key life course markers of cognitive reserve and social capital in a large sample of older adults. Methods: We assessed cognitive performance (verbal abilities and processing speed) and psychological stress in 2,812 older adults. The Participants reported information on education, occupation, leisure activities, family, and close friends. Results: Greater psychological stress was significantly related to lower performance in verbal abilities and processing speed. Moderation analyses suggested that the relations of psychological stress to cognitive performance were reduced in individuals with higher education, a higher cognitive level of the first profession practiced after education, a larger number of midlife leisure activities, a larger number of significant family members, and a larger number of close friends. Conclusion: Cognitive reserve and social capital accrued in early and midlife may reduce the detrimental influences of psychological stress on cognitive functioning in old age.

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“…We asked the participants to indicate the number of their family members that played an important role for them [18, 43]. …”

Section: Participants and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Reserve and Social Capital Accrued in Early and Midlife Moderate the Relation of Psychological Stress to Cognitive Performance in Old Age

Ihle

Oris

Sauter

et al. 2018

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

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“…Following standard procedures for collecting information on family networks (Widmer et al, ), respondents were asked, “Who are your significant family members?” and allowed to identify a maximum of five significant family members. The limit of five significant family members was necessary to maintain a manageable interview time.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lay definitions of family and social capital in later life

Girardin

Widmer

2015

Personal Relationships

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This study explores the lay definitions of family in old age and their consequences for social capital in using an egocentric network approach. Data were derived from a subsample of 578 elders (aged 65 and older) from the Vivre/Leben/Vivere (VLV) study, a large survey addressing family life and health conditions of older people in Switzerland. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to create a typology of family networks based on family members who were cited as significant. We identified six family networks: Conjugal, Son, Daughter, Sibling, Kinship, and Sparse. These feature bonding and bridging social capital unequally. Therefore, one should take into account the lay definitions of family to better understand social capital within families in later life.

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“…In this study, personal networks refer to the set of individuals, the so called significant others or alters, who are considered meaningful or important in some regard by the respondent, and the emotional support ties existing between them from the respondent's point of view (Widmer, 2016;Widmer et al, 2013). Personal networks are related to the social, emotional and symbolic significance of network members for the respondent.…”

Section: Data and Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Face-to-face (CAPI) interviews were conducted at respondents' homes by trained interviewers of a survey institute. The questionnaire included two main instruments: (1) a Life History Calendar (Morselli et al, 2016) to collect retrospective life course data in various life domains, such as family, work and residential location; and (2) the Family Network Method (Widmer, Aeby, & Sapin, 2013) for collecting information on the composition and structure of the respondents' personal networks. The Family Network Method belongs to instruments measuring cognitive networks.…”

Section: Data and Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the Role of Social Visits on Migrants’ Social Capital: A Personal Network Approach

Viry

Ganjour

Gauthier

et al. 2017

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There are concerns that migrants may be embedded in far-flung networks with support being less collective. The spatial dispersion of their relatives and friends would result in fragmented networks with lower solidarity and lower mutual trust than densely connected networks based on geographical proximity. This may be particularly true for migrants who rarely meet their relatives and friends face-to-face. Yet, it is unclear what role, if any, distant visits play in migrants' social capital. This article examines these issues using representative data from Switzerland and a combination of network and sequence analysis. Results show that migrants have more spatially dispersed networks, which, in turn, are associated with higher number of emotional support ties compared to respondents with spatially close networks, yet they are characterised by low cohesion and low trust. Distant visits only partly moderate the influence of spatial dispersion on social capital. People who frequently visit or host their far-flung relatives and friends have more transitive networks and fewer supportive ties than those who see them less often, but they do not have higher trust in them. Overall, distant visits have relatively little impact on social capital, suggesting a network effect that goes beyond dyadic relationships.

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Collecting family network data

Cited by 47 publications

References 40 publications

Cognitive Reserve and Social Capital Accrued in Early and Midlife Moderate the Relation of Psychological Stress to Cognitive Performance in Old Age

Cognitive Reserve and Social Capital Accrued in Early and Midlife Moderate the Relation of Psychological Stress to Cognitive Performance in Old Age

Lay definitions of family and social capital in later life

Analysing the Role of Social Visits on Migrants’ Social Capital: A Personal Network Approach

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