Types of Personal Social Networks of Older Adults in Portugal

Guadalupe, Sónia; Vicente, Henrique Testa

doi:10.1007/s11205-019-02252-3

Cited by 7 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…It pointed out the role of extra-family interaction for defining other network types. The family network type was found as the most frequent in a study with older adults in Portugal [2] with a very high proportion of family ties in the networks' size, attesting to the older persons' familistic nature networks in that context.…”

Section: Family-centered Networkmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…High cohesion or density levels between members are also expected in networks dominated by kinship [2,24,33]. This feature has positive and negative sides.…”

Section: Family-centered Networkmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Stability over time refers to relational durability and the projection of the relational commitment in the future regarding intergenerationally. Longer relationships are associated with predominantly familial networks [2,16]. A recent study evidenced that older Europeans [22] experienced diverse network transition, although, over time, close-family-based networks tended to prevail.…”

Section: Family-centered Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In later life, family relationships emerge as the core of social networks [1,2]. The relevance of family in social networks' structure is evident, in general, but more relevant when addressing old ages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beyond the relevance of family-centered networks, they also emerge as important for wellbeing in old age, the restricted and the diverse social, personal networks. These last two network types are associated with antagonistic social support and wellbeing effectiveness features [2,3]. Restricted and diverse networks are also predictors of health, mental health, and social participation, as key promotors of wellbeing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Intergenerational Support Networks and Wellbeing in Old Age

Guadalupe¹,

Vicente²

2021

Improving Quality of Life - Exploring Standard of Living, Wellbeing, and Community Development

Self Cite

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Family is the main informal support system for the older population. Focusing on social network types, the chapter discusses the relevance of family-centered networks, restricted and diverse networks for wellbeing, and psychosocial risk in the aging process. Social network types and social support effectiveness are also pointed out as good predictors of health, mental health, and social or community participation. Familistic cultures represent different demands on informal support and social care, bringing enormous importance to the heiresses generations. Interpersonal relationships between generations are fueled by reciprocity in support throughout the life cycle. Intergenerationality closes its cycle when the offspring support their parents in older ages. Normativity in this cycle is broken with childlessness, which is less and less exceptional today. The emphasis on family ties in social care and the childless population’s increase transform future support expectations, challenging societies.

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Section: Family-centered Networkmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…High cohesion or density levels between members are also expected in networks dominated by kinship [2,24,33]. This feature has positive and negative sides.…”

Section: Family-centered Networkmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Family-centered Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Intergenerational Support Networks and Wellbeing in Old Age

Guadalupe¹,

Vicente²

2021

Improving Quality of Life - Exploring Standard of Living, Wellbeing, and Community Development

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Towards a general method to classify personal network structures

González-Casado,

Gonzales,

Molina

et al. 2024

Social Networks

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Childlessness, personal social networks and wellbeing at advanced ages: a cross-sectional study in a Southern European familistic welfare state

Vicente

Guadalupe

2022

Ageing and Society

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During the past decades, childless old age has attracted a considerable amount of scholarly interest. However, few studies address this phenomenon in Southern European familistic welfare states, where there is a pervading expectation that family members, especially spouses and children, care for their older relatives. The present cross-sectional study aims to analyse the relationship between childlessness, social networks and wellbeing in a sample of 612 Portuguese individuals aged 65 and over, comprising two sub-samples: parents (N = 540) and childless (N = 72). Data were collected through a research protocol that included a sociodemographic questionnaire, a personal social network assessment inventory, and several validated psychometric measures of psychological wellbeing focusing on mental health, loneliness, depression and satisfaction with life. Childless older adults' social networks are smaller but more diverse, including a more significant proportion of friends and neighbours. No differences were found in perceived support from significant others, but network reciprocity was lower among non-parents. The childless subsample also reported more feelings of loneliness and less life satisfaction, but regression analysis showed that parenthood status, per se, is not significantly related to any outcome measures. Besides the central role of sociodemographic characteristics and personal functioning measures in explaining psychological wellbeing variance, several network factors were also identified as influential predictors. Implications for micro-level network intervention and macro-level social policy making are discussed.

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Types of Personal Social Networks of Older Adults in Portugal

Cited by 7 publications

References 41 publications

Intergenerational Support Networks and Wellbeing in Old Age

Intergenerational Support Networks and Wellbeing in Old Age

Towards a general method to classify personal network structures

Childlessness, personal social networks and wellbeing at advanced ages: a cross-sectional study in a Southern European familistic welfare state

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