Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2020 Aug 13;75(7):1538-1547. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby139.
Personal network turnover, a combination of lost and added network contacts, is suggested to affect health as well as moderate access to social support and resources. This article tests whether the caregiving process is associated with network turnover in later life and whether the process is different for men and women.
Network turnover was assessed using two waves of personal network data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Network contacts were uniquely identified in each wave making it possible to document contact loss and addition. Rates of change were modeled using Poisson regression.
Respondents transitioning into caregiving lost and added network contacts at higher rates than non-caregivers. Conversely, respondents providing care during both waves and respondents transitioning out of the role saw no significant levels of network turnover. The analysis provided minimal evidence of gender differences.
Findings suggest that the initial shift into the caregiving role is associated with notable personal network change. This is an important consideration given that long-term network instability may lead to poor health and limited access to social resources whereas adaptive network change tends to elicit more positive outcomes.
个人网络流动，即失去和增加的网络联系人的组合，据推测会影响健康，以及适度获得社会支持和资源。本文检验了照顾过程是否与晚年的网络流动有关，以及这一过程是否因性别而异。
使用来自国家社会生活、健康和老龄化项目的两波个人网络数据评估网络流动。在每一波中，网络联系人都被唯一识别，从而可以记录联系人的损失和增加。使用泊松回归对变化率进行建模。
与非照顾者相比，过渡到照顾角色的受访者失去和增加网络联系人的速度更快。相反，在两波中都提供照顾的受访者和从该角色中过渡出来的受访者则没有明显的网络流动。分析结果几乎没有显示出性别差异。
研究结果表明，最初进入照顾角色与显著的个人网络变化有关。鉴于长期的网络不稳定可能导致健康状况不佳和社会资源有限，而适应性的网络变化往往会产生更积极的结果，这一点非常重要。
