Social networks among elderly women: implications for health education practice

The general aim of the present study was to examine and help clarify the properties of the distinctions between social networks and social support, their relationship to health status, and their implications for health education practice. More specifically, a secondary data analysis was conducted with 130 white women, community residents, between the ages of 60 and 68, which examined the relationship between psychological well-being and social network characteristics. These characteristics are categorized along three broad dimensions: structure--links in the overall network (size and density); interaction--nature of the linkages themselves (frequency, homogeneity, content, reciprocity, intensity, and dispersion); and functions which networks provide (affective support and instrumental support). A combination was made and relative strength investigated of several network characteristics representative of the quality of interactions (i.e., reciprocal affective support, intensity, and affective support) and those representing the quantity of interactions (i.e., size, density, and frequency).