The Effects of a Confidant and a Peer Group on the Well-Being of Single Elders

Abstract

A study of 100 elderly people was carried out to compare the predictions of well-being derived from the confidant model with those derived from the Weiss model. The confidant model predicts that the most important feature of a person's social network for the well-being of that person is whether or not the person has a confidant. The Weiss model states that different persons are needed to fulfill the different needs of the person and in particular that a confidant is important to the need for intimacy and emotional security while a peer group of social friends is needed to fulfill sociability and identity needs. The two models were evaluated by comparing the relative influence of the confidant variable with the peer group variable on subject's well-being. Regression analysis was carried out on the well-being measure using as predictor variables the confidant variable, peer group variable, age, health, and financial status. The confidant and peer group variables were of equal importance to well-being, thus confirming the Weiss model.

Illness and other assaults on self: the relative impact of HIV/AIDS on women’s lives

“…Given the health benefits of having a confidant or positive support (Gupta andKorte 1994, Thoits 1995), it is not surprising that the presence of a spouse or significant other colours women's perceptions of the disruptive nature of HIV/AIDS. More than half (52 per cent) of the women who were in a monogamous intimate relationship at the time of the interview reported that other assaults were more disruptive than HIV infection.…”

Health, Quality of Care and Quality of Life: A Case of Frail Older Adults

“…However, this study did not find a significant association between selfreported physical activity levels and life satisfaction among this sample of frail older adults. It is not impossible that the significant association between self-report physical conditions and life satisfaction observed in previous studies (Gupta and Korte 1994;Usui et al 1985) may not exist with a sample of exclusive frail older adults. However, given the limited generalizability of this study, further research is needed in order to fully understand the relationship between self-reported physical activity levels and life satisfaction among frail older adults.…”

“…Although previous research supported the importance of including health in life satisfaction studies, there has not been a consistent definition or measure of health. Generally speaking, in gerontological studies of subjective well-being, health has often been conceptualized as: (1) self evaluation of, or perceived, health status (e.g., Donnenwerth and Peterson 1992;Markides and Martin 1979;Russell 1990;Tran 1992), (2) satisfaction with one's own health (e.g., Krause 1991), or (3) self-report physical/activity conditions (e.g., Gupta and Korte 1994;Usui et al 1985). The current study uses all three definitions of health in exploring the relationship between quality of care of geriatric case management and quality of life (life satisfaction, in this case).…”

Psychosocial Aspects of Aging

“…In this respect, Gupta and Korte (1994) found that both confidant and peer group variables contributed equally to well-being and health in their study of elderly people. However, Chappell and Badger (1989) cite evidence for the differential impact of subjective versus objective aspects of isolation, noting that emotional isolation (absence of a confidant) is more detrimental than social isolation (limited social network contacts).…”

“…Health status has been found to be one of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction relative to other psychosocial variables Bowling, Farquhar, & Brown, 1991;Gupta & Korte, 1994;Lubben, 1989). This is not surprising in that physical problems and associated functional disability interfere with participation in daily activities and social interactions, two variables also predictive of life satisfaction (Bowling, Farquhar, Grundy, & Formby, 1993).…”