Personal networks and mortality in later life: racial and ethnic differences

Social network characteristics are associated with health outcomes in later life, including mortality. Moreover, there are well-established mortality disparities across race and ethnicity. Although previous studies have documented these associations separately, limited research considers the two in tandem. The present study addressed how the associations between social network characteristics and mortality differ across race and ethnicity in later life.

Data were from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. At baseline, 3005 respondents were interviewed with regards to their health and social networks. Five years later, 430 respondents had died. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of all-cause mortality over the study period.

Network size and kin composition were negatively associated with mortality, whereas density was positively associated with mortality. There was a stronger negative association between the kin composition and mortality for Hispanic respondents compared with white and Black respondents.

The present study contributes to the large literature documenting the link between social networks and health by highlighting the importance of analyzing networks through a sociocultural lens.