Social Support, Social Networking & Happiness in Old Age
By Richard Shank
The Population Reference Bureau published a brief summary of the current state of research on happiness and aging. This research brief provides an overview of the important role that social relationships play in the aging process and how the quality of these relationships influence the relative level of happiness experienced by older adults.
For some time, researchers have been investigating ways to improve older adults' quality of life. Recently, they have turned their attention to ways of leading not only a healthier life into old age, but also a happier one. This research is being built off of developments in the fields of positive psychology and sociology and is relatively new to the field of aging.
Happiness has been linked to life expectancies and health outcomes. Happier people simply live longer than those who are unhappy. For a long time, the relative happiness of a person was thought to be linked to an unchangeable personality trait; however, contemporary social research indicates that personality traits are more malleable than originally thought. An individual’s self-esteem, self-efficacy, and overall level of happiness will change throughout the life course as a response to ongoing events and relationships.
Sociological research has even linked happiness to the quality and type of social relationship. Each individual engages with a diverse array of social networks; each of these networks entails incorporating different roles that have a varying impact on self-esteem, happiness, and health. Research has shown that an older adult is more likely than any other person to engage in what some describe as "non-family restricted social networks." This type of network is primarily comprised of fleeting social relationships, with weak social ties. Unlike forms of networking that entail meeting new people and exchanging new kinds of information, these restricted networks provide limited access to new relationships. In the absence of strong family and friendship relationships, these networks often lead to feelings of social isolation and depression, which, in turn, often results in poor health.
Caregivers who struggle with elevated feelings of social isolation and relative sadness expressed by their care recipient should think about ways to strengthen the social support resources available to them. Keeping older adults connected to friends and family in meaningful ways is an important, but challenging, part of providing good care.
For more information, see the research brief at http://www.prb.org/pdf09/TodaysResearchAging17.pdf.
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