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Social Disadvantage and Instability in Older Adults' Ties to Their Adult Children.

ABSTRACT: Objective:We examine whether racial and socioeconomic factors influence older adults' likelihood of experiencing instability in their social network ties with their adult children. Background:Recent work shows that socially disadvantaged older adults' social networks are more unstable and exhibit higher rates of turnover, perhaps due to greater exposure to broader social-environmental instability. We consider whether this network instability applies to older adults' ties with their adult children, which are often the closest and most reliable social ties in later life. Methods:We use two waves of data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N=1,456), a nationally representative, longitudinal study of older Americans. Through a series of multivariate regression models, we examine how race and education are associated with how frequently older adults reported being in contact with child network members, and how likely older adults were to stop naming their children as network members over time. Results:African American and less educated individuals reported significantly more frequent contact with their adult child network members than did whites and more educated individuals. Nevertheless, these populations were also more likely to stop naming their children as network confidants over time. Conclusion:African American and less educated older adults are at greater risk of losing access to the supports and other resources that are often provided by adult children, or of not being able to consistently draw on them as they age, despite the fact that these ties demonstrate greater potential for support exchange at baseline.

SUBMITTER: Goldman AW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6276798 | biostudies-other | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Social Disadvantage and Instability in Older Adults' Ties to Their Adult Children.

Goldman Alyssa W AW Cornwell Benjamin B

Journal of marriage and the family 20180619 5

<h4>Objective</h4>We examine whether racial and socioeconomic factors influence older adults' likelihood of experiencing instability in their social network ties with their adult children.<h4>Background</h4>Recent work shows that socially disadvantaged older adults' social networks are more unstable and exhibit higher rates of turnover, perhaps due to greater exposure to broader social-environmental instability. We consider whether this network instability applies to older adults' ties with thei ...[more]

PMID: 30524144

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Project description:BackgroundDigital technologies were implemented to address the disruption of long-term care facility residents' socialization needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. A literature review regarding this topic is needed to inform public policy, facility managers, family caregivers, and nurses and allied health professionals involved in mediating the use of digital devices for residents' social ties.ObjectiveOur study outlines key concepts, methodologies, results, issues, and gaps in articles published during pandemic-related visitation restrictions.MethodsFollowing the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) protocol, a scoping review was conducted by searching 3 database aggregator platforms (EBSCO, ProQuest, and PubMed) for studies published in peer-reviewed journals from early 2020 to the end of June 2021, when the most stringent restrictions were in place. We included qualitative and quantitative studies, reviews, commentaries, viewpoints, and letters to the editors in French or English focusing on digital technologies aiming to support the social contact of residents in long-term care facilities during pandemic-related visitation restrictions.ResultsAmong 763 screened articles, 29 met our selection criteria. For each study, we characterized the (1) authors, title, and date of the publication; (2) country of the first author; (3) research fields; (4) article type; and (5) type of technology mentioned. The analysis distinguished 3 main themes emerging from the literature: (1) impact and expectations of remote social contact on the physical and mental health and well-being of the residents (n=12), (2) with whom or what the social contact took place (n=17), and (3) limitations and barriers to significant social contact related to digital technologies (n=14). The results first underlined the highly positive impact expected by the authors of the digital technologies on health and quality of life of residents of long-term care facilities. Second, they highlighted the plurality of ties to consider, since social contact takes place not only with family caregivers to maintain contact but also for other purposes (end-of-life videoconferences) and with other types of contact (eg, with staff and robots). Third, they exposed the limitations and barriers to significant contact using digital technologies and outlined the required conditions to enable them.ConclusionsThe review demonstrated the opportunities and risks outlined by the literature about the implementation of digital technologies to support remote social contact. It showed the plurality of ties to consider and revealed the need to evaluate the positive impact of remote contact from the residents' perspectives. Therefore, to go beyond the risk of digital solutionism, there is a need for studies considering the holistic impact on health regarding the implementation of digital technologies, including the meaning residents give to interpersonal exchanges and the organizational constraints.Trial registrationOSF Registries osf.io/yhpx3; https://osf.io/yhpx3.

Dataset Information

Social Disadvantage and Instability in Older Adults' Ties to Their Adult Children.

Publications

Social Disadvantage and Instability in Older Adults' Ties to Their Adult Children.

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