Confidants and family structure in old age

Previous research has shown that confiding has a major influence on well-being in old age, but little is known about the availability and selection of confidants. Drawing from a survey of the social networks of 1,050 persons aged 60 and older in Sydney, Australia, this study explored aspects of the influence of age, gender, and family structure in predicting the choice of confidants among potentially available spouses, children, siblings, and other persons in informal relationships. Logistic regression was used because the response variable was dichotomous and because several explanatory variables, which were both categorical and continuous, were being examined simultaneously. The findings indicated that people tended to confide in more distant family or nonfamily when close family members were not available. The relative importance of variables differed substantially between types of confiding relationships and between gender and age groups of respondents. Our findings suggest the need for longitudinal research and more sensitive methods of analysis in exploring the complexities of maintaining and re-forming primary bonds through the course of old age.