Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-8lnk4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-08T19:20:56.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Loneliness and the exchange of social support among older adults in Spain and the Netherlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2012

MARTA M. SÁNCHEZ RODRIGUES ,
JENNY DE JONG GIERVELD  and
JOSE BUZ
MARTA M. SÁNCHEZ RODRIGUES
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Salamanca, Spain.
JENNY DE JONG GIERVELD*
Affiliation:
Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam.
JOSE BUZ
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Salamanca, Spain.
*
Address for correspondence: Jenny De Jong Gierveld, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (Nidi), Lange Houtstraat 19, 2511 CV The Hague, The Netherlands. E-mail: gierveld@nidi.nl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous research has shown that exchanges of support within social networks reduce the loneliness of older adults. However, there is no consistent evidence on how types of support (instrumental and emotional) and the direction of that support (giving and receiving) are related to loneliness, and whether the effects are culture-specific. The aim of this study was to investigate support exchanges and their effects on loneliness in Spain and the Netherlands. We suggest that cultural differences, such as more interdependent cultural values in Southern Europe and more independence-related values in Northern Europe, influence social realities such as the social support exchanged. In Spain relationships with family members are determined by mutual obligations; older people expect to receive instrumental support from them. However, in Northern Europe independence is highly valued and intimacy and closeness are shown primarily by confiding about personal matters. This paper examined data from two comparable surveys, one in Spain (N=646) and one in the Netherlands (N=656). Older adults in Spain provide for, and receive, high amounts of instrumental support and this proved to be a protective factor against loneliness. An alternative pattern was found in the Netherlands where respondents provided more and received more emotional support than Spanish older adults; emotional support is a protective factor in the Netherlands (but only for support received).

Keywords

emotional supportinstrumental supportlonelinessolder adultssocial networkSpainThe Netherlands

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , February 2014 , pp. 330 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adams, G., Anderson, S. L. and Adonu, J. K. 2004. The cultural grounding of closeness and intimacy. In Haskek, D. and Aron, A. (eds), Handbook of Closeness and Intimacy. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, 321–39.Google Scholar
Adams, G. and Plaut, V. C. 2003. The cultural grounding of personal relationship: friendship in North American and West African worlds. Personal Relationships, 10, 3, 335–49.Google Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. 1986. Measuring social support networks. Hierarchical mapping technique. Generations: Journal of the American Society of Aging, 10, 4, 10–12.Google Scholar
Antonucci, T. C. and Akiyama, H. 1987. Social networks in adult life and a preliminary examination of the convoy model. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 5, 519–27.Google Scholar
Batson, C. D. 1998. Altruism and prosocial behaviour. In Gilbert, D. T., Fiske, S. T. and Lindzey, G. (eds), The Handbook of Social Psychology. Volume 2, McGraw-Hill, New York, 282–316.Google Scholar
Berg, S., Mellström, D., Persson, G. and Svanborg, A. 1981. Loneliness in the Swedish aged. Journal of Gerontology, 36, 3, 342–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bisschop, M. I., Kriegsman, D. M. W., Van Tilburg, T. G., Penninx, B. W. J. H., Van Eijk, J. T. M. and Deeg, D. J. H. 2003. The influence of differing social ties on decline in physical functioning among older people with and without chronic diseases: the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 15, 2, 164–73.Google Scholar
Boerner, K. and Reinhardt, J. P. 2003. Giving while in need: support provided by disabled older adults. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 58B, 5, S297–304.Google Scholar
Borys, S. and Perlman, D. 1985. Gender differences in loneliness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 11, 1, 63–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, S. L., Nesse, R. M., Vinkur, A. D. and Smith, D. M. 2003. Providing social support may be more beneficial than receiving it: results from a prospective study of mortality. Psychological Science, 14, 4, 320–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, W. M., Consedine, N. S. and Magai, C. 2005. Altruism relates to health in an ethnically diverse sample of older adults. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 60B, 3, P143–52.Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M. H., McClintock, M. K., Malarkey, W. B., Hawkley, L. C., Paulsen, A., Hobson, J. A., Spiegel, D. and Berntson, G. G. 2000. Lonely traits and concomitant physiological processes: the MacArthur social neuroscience studies. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 35, 2-3, 143–54.Google Scholar
Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas [Sociological Research Institute in Spain] 1995. Estudio 2157, Actitudes y Conductas Afectivas de los Espanoles. Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Chappell, N. L. 1983. Informal support networks among the elderly. Research on Aging, 5, 1, 77–99.Google Scholar
Cochran, M., Larner, M., Riley, D., Gunnarson, L. and Henderson, C. R. 1990. Extending Families: The Social Networks of Parents and Their Children. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. and Wills, T. A. 1985. Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 2, 310–57.Google Scholar
Cornwell, E. Y. and Waite, L. J. 2009. Measuring social isolation among older adults using multiple indicators from the NSHAP Study. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 64B, supplement 1, i38–46.Google Scholar
Cutrona, C. E. and Russell, D. 1990. Type of social support and specific stress: toward a theory of optimal matching. In Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B. R. and Pierce, G. R. (eds), Social Support: An Interactional View. Wiley, New York, 319–66.Google Scholar
De Jong Gierveld, J. 1987. Developing and testing a model of loneliness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1, 119–28.Google Scholar
De Jong Gierveld, J. and Dykstra, P. A. 2008. Virtue is its own reward? Support-giving in the family and loneliness in middle and old age. Ageing & Society, 28, 2, 271–87.Google Scholar
De Jong Gierveld, J. and Havens, B. 2004. Cross-national comparisons of social isolation and loneliness: introduction and overview. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue Canadienne du Vieillissement, 23, 2, 109–13.Google Scholar
De Jong Gierveld, J. and Kamphuis, F. H. 1985. The development of a Rasch-type loneliness scale. Applied Psychological Measurement, 9, 3, 289–99.Google Scholar
De Jong Gierveld, J. and Van Tilburg, T. G. 1999 a. Living arrangements of older adults in the Netherlands and Italy: coresidence values and behavior and their consequences for loneliness. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology, 14, 1, 1–24.Google Scholar
De Jong Gierveld, J. and Van Tilburg, T. G. 1999 b. Manual of the Loneliness Scale. Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Deeg, D. J. H., Beekman, A. T. F., Kriegsman, D. M. W. and Westendorp-de Serière, M. (eds) 1998. Autonomy and Well-being in the Aging Population II. Report from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, 1992–1996. Volume II, VU University Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Deeg, D. J. H., Van Tilburg, T., Smit, J. H. and De Leeuw, E. 2002. Attrition in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam: the effect of differential inclusion in side studies. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 55, 4, 319–28.Google Scholar
Del Barrio, E., Castejón, P., Sancho Castiello, M., Tortosa, M. A., Sundström, G. and Malmberg, B. 2010. Loneliness among the elderly in Spain and Sweden: context and culture. Revista Española Geriatria Gerontologia, 45, 4, 189–95.Google Scholar
Dykstra, P. A. 1990. Next of (Non)kin: The Importance of Primary Relationships for Older Adults' Well-being. Swets and Zeitlinger, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Dykstra, P. A. 2009. Older adult loneliness: myths and realities. European Journal of Ageing, 6, 2, 91–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dykstra, P. A. and Fokkema, T. 2007. Social and emotional loneliness among divorced and married men and women: comparing the deficit and cognitive perspectives. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29, 1, 1–12.Google Scholar
Dykstra, P. A., Van Tilburg, T. G. and De Jong Gierveld, J. 2005. Changes in older adult loneliness. Research on Aging, 27, 6, 725–47.Google Scholar
Fernández-Ballesteros, R. 2002. Social support and quality of life among older people in Spain. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 4, 645–59.Google Scholar
Guiaux, M., Van Tilburg, T. and Broese van Groenou, M. B. 2007. Changes in contact and social support exchange in personal networks after widowhood. Personal Relationships, 14, 3, 457–73.Google Scholar
Halleröd, B. 2009. Ill, worried or worried sick? Inter-relationships among indicators of wellbeing among older people in Sweden. Ageing & Society, 29, 4, 563–84.Google Scholar
Hank, K. 2007. Proximity and contacts between older parents and their children: a European comparison. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 1, 157–73.Google Scholar
Hank, K. and Erlinghagen, M. 2010. Dynamics of volunteering in older Europeans. The Gerontologist, 50, 2, 170–8.Google Scholar
Hawkley, L. C., Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Masi, C. M., Thisted, R. A. and Cacioppo, J. T. 2008. From social structural factors to perceptions of relationship quality and loneliness: the Chicago health, aging, and social relations study. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 63B, 6, S375–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofstede, G. 2001. Culture's Consequences, Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Hollinger, F. and Haller, M. 1990. Kinship and social networks in modern societies: a cross-cultural comparison among seven nations. European Sociological Review, 6, 2, 103–24.Google Scholar
Imserso 2006. Las Personas Mayores en España. Informe 2006. Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales, Madrid.Google Scholar
Jylhä, M. 2004. Old age and loneliness: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in the Tampere Longitudinal Study on Aging. Canadian Journal on Aging/ La Revue Canadienne du Vieillissement, 23, 2, 157–68.Google Scholar
Jylhä, M. and Jokela, J. 1990. Individual experiences as cultural: a cross-cultural study on loneliness among the elderly. Ageing & Society, 10, 2, 295–315.Google Scholar
Kahn, R. L. and Antonucci, T. C. 1980. Convoys over the life-course: attachment, roles and social support. In Baltes, P. B. and Brim, O. (eds), Lifespan Development and Behavior. Volume 3, Academic Press, New York, 81–102.Google Scholar
Knipscheer, C. P. M., De Jong Gierveld, J., Van Tilburg, T. G. and Dykstra, P. A. 1995. Living Arrangements and Social Networks of Older Adults. VU University Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Koropeckyi-Cox, T. 1998. Loneliness and depression in middle and old age: are the childless more vulnerable? Journal of Gerontology, 53B, 6, S303–12.Google Scholar
Korporaal, M., Broese van Groenou, M. and Van Tilburg, T. G. 2008. Effects of own and spousal disability on loneliness among older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 20, 3, 306–25.Google Scholar
Krause, N. 2001. Social support. In Binstock, R. H. and George, L. K. (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences. Fifth edition, Elsevier Science, New York, 272–94.Google Scholar
Long, M. V. and Martin, P. 2000. Personality, relationship closeness, and loneliness of oldest old adults and their children. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 55B, 5, P311–9.Google Scholar
López, J. 2005. Personas Mayores Viviendo Solas. Imserso, Madrid.Google Scholar
Pinquart, M. and Sörensen, S. 2001. Influences on loneliness in older adults: a meta-analysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 23, 4, 245–66.Google Scholar
Post, S. G. 2005. Altruism, happiness, and health: it's good to be good. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12, 2, 66–77.Google Scholar
Reher, D. S. 1998. Family ties in Western Europe: persistent contrasts. Population and Development Review, 24, 2, 203–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez Mosquera, P. M., Manstead, A. S. R. and Fischer, A. H. 2002. Honour in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 33, 1, 16–36.Google Scholar
Rokach, A. 2008. Coping with loneliness in USA and Spain. Psychology Journal, 5, 1, 17–31.Google Scholar
Rook, K. S. 1987. Social support versus companionship: effects on life stress, loneliness, and evaluations by others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 6, 1132–47.Google Scholar
Rosenmayr, L. and Köckeis, E. 1963. Propositions for a sociological theory of ageing and the family. International Social Science Journal, 15, 3, 410–26.Google Scholar
Routasalo, P. E., Savikko, N., Tilvis, R. S., Strandberg, T. E. and Pitkala, K. H. 2006. Social contacts and their relationships to loneliness among aged people: a population-based study. Gerontology, 52, 3, 181–7.Google Scholar
Sorkin, D., Rook, K. S. and Lu, J. L. 2002. Loneliness, lack of emotional support, lack of companionship and the likelihood of having a heart condition in an elderly sample. Annals of Behavioural Medicine, 24, 4, 290–8.Google Scholar
Stevens, N. and Westerhof, G. J. 2006. Partners and others: social provisions and loneliness among married Dutch men and women in the second half of life. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23, 6, 921–41.Google Scholar
Sundström, G., Fransson, E., Malmberg, B. and Davey, A. 2009. Loneliness among older Europeans. European Journal of Ageing, 6, 4, 267–75.Google Scholar
United Nations 2005. Contextual Database of the Generations and Gender Surveys; GGP Data Archive. United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
United Nations 2010. World Population Ageing 2009. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
Van Baarsen, B. 2002. Theories on coping with loss: the impact of social support and self-esteem on adjustment to emotional and social loneliness following a partner's death in later life. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 57B, 1, S33–42.Google Scholar
Van der Pas, S., Van Tilburg, T. G. and Knipscheer, C. P. M. 2007. Changes in contact and support within intergenerational relationships in the Netherlands: a cohort and time-sequential perspective. Interpersonal Relations Across the Life Course: Advances in Life Course Research, 12, 243–74.Google Scholar
Van Tilburg, T. G. 1995. Delineation of the social network and differences in network size. In Knipscheer, C. P. M., De Jong Gierveld, J., Van Tilburg, T. G. and Dykstra, P. A. (eds), Living Arrangements and Social Networks of Older Adults. VU University Press, Amsterdam, 83–96.Google Scholar
Van Tilburg, T. G., De Jong Gierveld, J., Lecchini, L. and Marsiglia, D. 1998. Social integration and loneliness: a comparative study among older adults in the Netherlands and Tuscany, Italy. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 15, 6, 740–54.Google Scholar
Van Tilburg, T. and De Leeuw, E. 1991. Stability of scale quality under various data collection procedures: a mode comparison on the ‘De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale’. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 3, 1, 69–85.Google Scholar
Van Tilburg, T. G., Havens, B. and De Jong Gierveld, J. 2004. Loneliness among older adults in the Netherlands, Italy, and Canada: a multifaceted comparison. Canadian Journal of Aging/La Revue Canadienne du Vieillissement, 23, 2, 169–80.Google Scholar
Vega, J. L., Bueno, B., Buz, J. and Navarro, A. B. 2001. Calidad de vida de las personas mayores y muy mayores. Memoria técnica [Quality of Life in old and very old age. Technical report]. Unpublished manuscript, Ayuntamiento de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.Google Scholar
Victor, C. R., Scambler, S., Bond, J. and Bowling, A. 2002. Loneliness in later life: preliminary findings from the Growing Older Project. Quality in Ageing, 3, 1, 34–41.Google Scholar