Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T12:28:09.538Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gendered trajectories of support from close relationships from middle to late life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2016

JING LIAO ,
ANNE MCMUNN ,
SHANNON T. MEJÍA  and
ERIC J. BRUNNER
JING LIAO*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Sun Yat-sen Global Health Institute, Institute of State Governance, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
ANNE MCMUNN
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK.
SHANNON T. MEJÍA
Affiliation:
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
ERIC J. BRUNNER
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Jing Liao, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 74 Zhongshan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China, 510080 E-mail: liaojing5@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigates gender differences in trajectories of support from close relationships among adults in the transition from middle to old age, taking into account stability and change in the identity of the closest persons. Multi-level modelling was used to estimate gendered age-trajectories in three dimensions of support: emotional support, practical support and negative encounters, which were repeatedly measured over ten years amongst 6,718 Whitehall II participants. Men were more likely than women to nominate their partner as their closest person throughout follow-up; whereas women drew support from a wider range of sources. Gender differences were only evident in age-related trajectories of emotional support, and were contingent on stability and change in the closest relationships. Men reported increased emotional support from closest relationships with age, except for those who transitioned out of a partnership. For women, emotional support was stable among those whose closest person remained consistent, but decreased among those who changed their closest person. Further, emotional support increased with age for all married men, which was only the case for married women who nominated their partner as their closest person. Our analysis highlights gender-specific trajectories of perceived support from adults’ closest relationships in late life, and indicate more pronounced socio-emotional selectivity in older men than women.

Keywords

genderclose relationship trajectorylongitudinal study
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , April 2018 , pp. 746 - 765
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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.)

References

Ajrouch, K. J., Blandon, A. Y. and Antonucci, T. C. 2005. Social networks among men and women: the effects of age and socioeconomic status. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 60B, 6, S311–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akiyama, H., Antonucci, T., Takahashi, K. and Langfahl, E. S. 2003. Negative interactions in close relationships across the life span. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58B, 2, P70–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antonucci, T. C., Ajrouch, K. J. and Birditt, K. S. 2013. The convoy model: explaining social relations from a multidisciplinary perspective. The Gerontologist, 54, 1, 82–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antonucci, T. C., Birditt, K. S. and Ajrouch, K. 2011. Convoys of social relations: past, present and future. In Fingerman, K. L., Berg, C. A., Smith, J. and Antonucci, T. (eds), Handbook of Life Span Development. Springer, New York, 161–82.Google Scholar
Arber, S., Davidson, K. and Ginn, J. 2003. Gender and Ageing: Changing Roles and Relationships. Open University Press, Maidenhead, UK.Google Scholar
Baltes, P. B., Lindenberger, U. and Staudinger, U. M. 2006. Life Span Theory in Developmental Psychology. Wiley Online Library, New York.Google Scholar
Birditt, K. S., Jackey, L. M. and Antonucci, T. C. 2009. Longitudinal patterns of negative relationship quality across adulthood. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64B, 1, 55–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, D. 2003. Pension Schemes and Pension Funds in the United Kingdom. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boerner, K., Jopp, D. S., Carr, D., Sosinsky, L. and Kim, S.-K. 2014. ‘His’ and ‘her’ marriage? The role of positive and negative marital characteristics in global marital satisfaction among older adults. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 69B, 4, 579–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boerner, K., Reinhardt, J. P., Raykov, T. and Horowitz, A. 2004. Stability and change in social negativity in later life: reducing received while maintaining initiated negativity. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59B, 4, S230–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broese van Groenou, M. I., Hoogendijk, E. O. and van Tilburg, T. G. 2013. Continued and new personal relationships in later life differential effects of health. Journal of Aging and Health, 25, 2, 274–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstensen, L. L. 2006. The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312, 5782, 1913–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstensen, L. L., Fung, H. H. and Charles, S. T. 2003. Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 2, 103–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carstensen, L. L., Gottman, J. M. and Levenson, R. W. 1995. Emotional behavior in long-term marriage. Psychology and Aging, 10, 1, 140–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M. and Charles, S. T. 1999. Taking time seriously: a theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54, 3, 165–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cavallero, P., Morino-Abbele, F. and Bertocci, B. 2007. The social relations of the elderly. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 44, supplement 1, 97–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chipperfield, J. G. and Havens, B. 2001. Gender differences in the relationship between marital status transitions and life satisfaction in later life. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 56B, 3, 176–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, S. 2004. Social relationships and health. American Psychologist, 59, 8, 676.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coventry, W., Gillespie, N., Heath, A. C. and Martin, N. 2004. Perceived social support in a large community sample. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 39, 8, 625–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curran, S. R., McLanahan, S. and Knab, J. 2003. Does remarriage expand perceptions of kinship support among the elderly? Social Science Research, 32, 2, 171–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davidson, K. 2001. Late life widowhood, selfishness and new partnership choices: a gendered perspective. Ageing & Society, 21, 3, 297–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demakakos, P., McMunn, A. and Steptoe, A. 2010. Well-being in older age: a multidimensional perspective. In Banks, J., Lessof, C., Nazroo, J., Rogers, N., Stafford, M. and Steptoe, A. (eds), Financial Circumstances, Health and Well-being of the Older Population in England: The 2008 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (Wave 4). The Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, 115–77.Google Scholar
Enders, C. K. and Bandalos, D. L. 2001. The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Structural Equation Modeling, 8, 3, 430–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuhrer, R. and Stansfeld, S. A. 2002. How gender affects patterns of social relations and their impact on health: a comparison of one or multiple sources of support from ‘close persons’. Social Science & Medicine, 54, 5, 811–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottlieb, B. H. and Bergen, A. E. 2010. Social support concepts and measures. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 69, 5, 511–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gray, A. 2009. The social capital of older people. Ageing & Society, 29, 1, 5–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurung, R. A. R., Taylor, S. E. and Seeman, T. E. 2003. Accounting for changes in social support among married older adults: insights from the MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging. Psychology and Aging, 18, 3, 487–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B. and Layton, J. B. 2010. Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 7, 7, e1000316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, J. S. 1981. Work Stress and Social Support. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts.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. G. (eds), Life-span Development and Behavior. Academic Press, New York, 253–86.Google Scholar
Kouvonen, A., Stafford, M., De Vogli, R., Shipley, M. J., Marmot, M. G., Cox, T., Vahtera, J., Väänänen, A., Heponiemi, T. and Singh-Manoux, A. 2011. Negative aspects of close relationships as predictor of increase in body mass index and waist circumference: the Whitehall II study. American Journal of Public Health, 101, 8, 1474–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krause, N. and Borawski-Clark, E. 1995. Social class differences in social support among older adults. The Gerontologist, 35, 4, 498–508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krause, N. and Rook, K. S. 2003. Negative interaction in late life: issues in the stability and generalizability of conflict across relationships. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58B, 2, 88–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, F. R., Rieckmann, N. and Baltes, M. M. 2002. Adapting to aging losses: do resources facilitate strategies of selection, compensation, and optimization in everyday functioning? Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 57B, 6, 501–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liao, J., Head, J., Kumari, M., Stansfeld, S., Kivimaki, M., Singh-Manoux, A. and Brunner, E. J. 2014. Negative aspects of close relationships as risk factors for cognitive aging. American Journal of Epidemiology, 180, 11, 1118–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Litwin, H. and Stoeckel, K. J. 2014. Confidant network types and well-being among older Europeans. The Gerontologist, 54, 762–72. doi:10.1093/geront/gnt056.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marmot, M. and Brunner, E. 2005. Cohort profile: the Whitehall II study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34, 2, 251–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martire, L. M., Schulz, R., Mittelmark, M. B. and Newsom, J. T. 1999. Stability and change in older adults’ social contact and social support: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 54B, 5, S302–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mejía, S. T. and Hooker, K. 2015. Emotional well-being and interactions with older adults’ close social partners: daily variation in social context matters. Psychology and Aging, 30, 3, 517–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rook, K. S. 1984. The negative side of social interaction: impact on psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 5, 1097–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rook, K. S. 2009. Gaps in social support resources in later life: an adaptational challenge in need of further research. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26, 1, 103–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, B. A., Krause, N., Liang, J. and Bennett, J. 2007. Tracking changes in social relations throughout late life. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 62B, 2, S90–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shye, D., Mullooly, J. P., Freeborn, D. K. and Pope, C. R. 1995. Gender differences in the relationship between social network support and mortality: a longitudinal study of an elderly cohort. Social Science & Medicine, 41, 7, 935–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stansfeld, S. and Marmot, M. 1992. Deriving a survey measure of social support: the reliability and validity of the Close Persons Questionnaire. Social Science & Medicine, 35, 8, 1027–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stansfeld, S. A. 2006. Social support and social cohesion. In Marmot, M. and Wilkinson, G. (eds) Social Determinants of Health (2nd edition), 2. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 148–71.Google Scholar
Stringhini, S., Berkman, L., Dugravot, A., Ferrie, J. E., Marmot, M., Kivimaki, M. and Singh-Manoux, A. 2011. Socioeconomic status, structural and functional measures of social support, and mortality: the British Whitehall II Cohort Study, 1985–2009. American Journal of Epidemiology, 175, 12, 1275–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Umberson, D. 1992. Gender, marital status and the social control of health behavior. Social Science & Medicine, 34, 8, 907–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
United Nations Population Division 2013. World Population Ageing 2013. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
van Tilburg, T. 2009. Social integration/isolation, later life. In Carr, D., Crosone, R., Hughes, M. E. and Pienta, A. (eds), Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development. Macmillan, Detroit, Michigan, 378–81.Google Scholar
van Tilburg, T. and Broese van Groenou, M. 2002. Network and health changes among older Dutch adults. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 4, 697–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ware, J. E. Jr and Sherbourne, C. D. 1992. The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Medical Care, 30, 6, 473–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed