Sex differences in the association between social capital and healthcare use—Results from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Abstract

Social capital is a multidimensional and complex concept, which is related to the way individuals interact with each other, enabling them to make choices (Lin, 2001). It is generally regarded as the property of the individual, being related to person-to-person contacts (Bourdieu's perspective [Bourdieu, 1986]), or of the community, which is associated with the interactions that people have with one another (Coleman's (Coleman, 1988) andPutnam's (Putnam, 2000) approaches).

Cross-Temporal Patterns of Care Provision by Older Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons for Resilience

“…However, each type of care seems to contribute to loneliness in opposite directions. Patterns of instrumental care provision were associated with decrease in loneliness, thereby corresponding to social capital [5,17]. In contrast, the provision of personal care seems to correspond mostly to the notion of caregiver stress or burden [19,20].…”

“…SHARE is a cross-national panel survey that collects data from people aged 50 and older and their partners aging in the community [29]. SHARE is a longitudinal multi-disciplinary project [5] held on a bi-annual basis [30] asking its participants about various aspects of life: economics, health, social networks and more [5]. The data collected in the SHARE framework is nationally representative of the mentioned age bracket [30], and the selection probability for each respondent is known [5].…”

“…Table 2 shows the analysis results predicting the likelihood of feeling lonely as a function of crosswave patterns of care provision. Reference categories: 1 Kept on not providing instrumental care to anyone, 2 Kept on not providing personal care to anyone, 3 Women, 4 Primary/elementary education level, 5 Does not live with partner, 6 Was not sad/depressed last month, 7 Resident of a low stringency country, 8…”

“…Although older adults are frequently seen as recipients of care [4], many people from this age category provide various types of care to others from their social networks. They tend to do this also during major health crises, like COVID-19 [5][6][7]. Older adults constitute a risk group in the current pandemic [8] demonstrating disproportionally high levels of morbidity and mortality following the infection with the virus (for example, see [9]).…”