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“Tell me how much your friends earn, and I’ll tell you if you smoke, what diseases you have and how long your life will be!” With this somewhat pointed statement, we wanted to shed light on the empirically well-confirmed connection between social and health inequalities from the perspective of network research at the beginning of this book (see chapter “Social networks and health inequalities: a new perspective for research”). Social networks are understood here as mediating entities at an intermediate or meso-level, whose structure and function mediate between vertical (income, education, occupational status, etc.) as well as horizontal (e.g., age, gender, ethnic origin) inequalities and health inequalities (e.g., life expectancy, morbidity rates). Besides this mediating influence a moderating relationship wherein social networks amplify or diminish vertical and horizontal inequalities seems to be reasonable.

Thanks to improvements in living standards and health behavior as well as medical progress since the second half of the twentieth century, old age has become a life phase in its own right. This phase usually begins by the transition from working life to retirement (Kohli, 2000). Both the chance of reaching retirement and the life expectancy after retirement have increased significantly (Eisenmenger & Emmerling, 2011). The post-work phase spans several decades for many people now. In addition, people who retire are considerably healthier and more independent than their peers of earlier birth cohorts (Crimmins, 2004). The expansion of this phase of life has been accompanied by a differentiation of older people in terms of health and independence: healthy and active people experience this phase, as do people in need of help and care. This fact is considered by distinguishing between old and very old people (Baltes, 2007). Characteristics of old age are absence of non-compensable health restrictions, self-determination of various activities (e.g., traveling, hobbies, voluntary work), and strong social integration. Overall, the demands of old age can be coped well in this phase. Very old age is characterized by an increase in physical and cognitive losses and diseases, and a decrease in the abilities and possibilities of compensating for deficits (Baltes, 1997; Baltes & Smith, 2003).

Objectives Integration into social networks reduces stress during adverse life events and improves coping with disability in late life. The aim was to investigate whether social network closure (frequent contact among ties) and balance (positive contact among ties) are associated with perceived stress. We expect lowest stress for older adults with highly closed and balanced networks. Method Panel data on self-reported egocentric networks stem from the population-based Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study. Five waves were collected between 2002 and 2006, with 708 observations from 160 participants aged 50–68 years at baseline. Data include information on the participants’ social relationships, that is, interaction frequency and relationship quality, for ego–alter ties and alter–alter ties, and participants’ perceived stress. The analytical strategy used fixed- and random-effects models. Results Participants reporting the highest number of balanced relationships (positive ties among alters) experience least stress. This effect holds independently of sociodemographic confounders, loneliness, and network size. Discussion The absence of a stress-reducing effect from network closure suggests that balance matters more. Future research would benefit from considering balance when examining the characteristics of social networks that impinge on mental health outcomes in older adults.

Gossip is a pervasive phenomenon in organizations causing many individuals to have second-hand information about their colleagues. However, whether it is used to inform friendship choices (i.e., friendship creation, friendship maintenance, friendship discontinuation) is not that evident. This paper articulates and empirically tests a complex contagion model to explain how gossip, through its reputational effects, can affect the evolution of friendship ties. We argue that hearing gossip from more than a single sender (and about several targets) impacts receivers’ friendships with the gossip targets. Hypotheses are tested in a two-wave sociometric panel study among 148 employees in a Dutch childcare organization. Stochastic actor-oriented models reveal positive gossip favors receiver-target friendships, whereas negative gossip inhibits them. We also find evidence supporting that, for damaging relationships, negative gossip needs to originate in more than a single sender. Positive gossip about a high number of targets discourages friendships with colleagues in general, while negative gossip about many targets produces diverging trends. Overall, the study demonstrates that second-hand information influences the evolution of expressive relations. It also underscores the need to refine and extend current theorizing concerning the multiple (and potentially competing) psychological mechanisms causing some of the observed effects.

Positive associations of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics and older adults' cognitive functioning have been demonstrated in previous studies, but overall results have been mixed and evidence from European countries and particularly the Netherlands is scarce. We investigated the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and urbanity of neighborhoods on four domains of cognitive functioning in a sample of 985 Dutch older adults aged 65-88 years from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Besides cross-sectional level differences in general cognitive functioning, processing speed, problem solving and memory, we examined cognitive decline over a period of six years. Growth models in a multilevel framework were used to simultaneously assess levels and decline of cognitive functioning. In models not adjusting for individual SES, we found some evidence of higher levels of cognitive functioning in neighborhoods with a higher SES. In the same models, urbanity generally showed positive or inversely U-shaped associations with levels of cognitive functioning. Overall, effects of neighborhood urbanity remained significant when adjusting for individual SES. In contrast, level differences by neighborhood SES were largely explained by the respondents' individual SES. This suggests that neighborhood SES does not influence levels of cognitive functioning beyond the fact that individuals with a similar SES tend to self-select into neighborhoods with a corresponding SES. No evidence of systematically faster decline in neighborhoods with lower SES or lower degrees of urbanity was found. The findings suggest that neighborhood SES has no independent effect on older adults cognitive functioning in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the study reveals that neighborhood urbanity should be considered a determinant of cognitive functioning. This finding is in line with theoretical approaches that assume beneficial effects of exposure to complex environments on cognitive functioning. We encourage further investigations into the effect of urbanity in other contexts before drawing firm conclusions.

„Sag mir, wie viel Deine Freunde verdienen, und ich sage Dir, ob Du rauchst, welche Krankheiten Du hast und wie alt Du werden wirst!“ Mit dieser etwas zugespitzten Aussage wurde am Anfang dieses Bandes vorgeschlagen, den empirisch gut bestatigten Zusammenhang von sozialen und gesundheitlichen Ungleichheiten aus der Perspektive der Netzwerkforschung zu beleuchten. Soziale Netzwerke werden dabei als vermittelnde Instanz auf einer intermediaren oder Meso-Ebene verstanden, deren Struktur und Funktion zwischen vertikalen (Einkommen, Bildung, berufliche Stellung etc.) sowie horizontalen (z. B. Alter, Geschlecht, ethnische Herkunft) und gesundheitlichen Ungleichheiten (z. B. Lebenserwartung, Erkrankungsraten) vermittelt (Mediatorfunktion) oder deren Beziehung beeinflusst (Moderatorfunktion). In diesem Beitrag werden die Befunde aus den Kapiteln zusammengetragen und insbesondere die Forschungsdesiderata benannt.

Gesundheit und soziale Netzwerke sind im Alter die zentralen Lebensbereiche. Es existieren drei Thesen zum Verlauf des sozialen Gradienten von Gesundheit im Alter: die Kontinuitats-, die Divergenz- und die Konvergenzthese. Eine der wichtigsten Thesen zum sozialen Netzwerk im Alter ist die Aktivitatsthese. Sie besagt, dass gute Lebenszufriedenheit durch das Beibehalten von sozialen Interaktionen erreicht werden konne.

This contribution suggests and defends two propositions. First, gossip and reputation are coevolving relational phenomena, which conceptually overlap and empirically reinforce one another. Second, this coevolution is shaped by the opportunity and constraint structure of the social networks (e.g., organizations) in which these phenomena are typically embedded. The chapter presents theorizing, measures, and empirical findings on information sharing along three analytical levels. At the macro level, global structures describe overall network characteristics, such as density; at the meso level, local structures concern triadic configurations, like transitivity and clustering; at the micro level, individual structures cover ego-centric measures, including actor centrality and betweenness. The overview closes with three major suggestions for future research avenues on the study of gossip and reputation from a social network perspective.

While the concept of transnationalism has gained widespread popularity among scholars as a way to describe immigrants’ long-term maintenance of cross-border ties, few studies have empirically addre...

Grandparenthood is a significant social role for older adults and may have important health implications. Parenthood itself has been associated with some protective health effects, although findings have been mixed. Whether grandparenthood is associated with important long-term health effects such as mortality is largely unknown. This study examines the grandparenthood-mortality nexus, and whether it is modified by gender and education. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used, comprising twelve biennial follow-up waves from 1992 to 2014 with linked data on vital status derived from the National Death Index. Submodules assessed participants’ family structure during follow-up. The sample included 24,325 participants aged > 51 years with at least one child. Cox proportional hazard models were used to test the association between grandparenthood and mortality risk with adjustment for socio-demographic variables, for social variables including characteristics of and contact with children, and for health variables, including measures of overall, functional and mental health. Stratified models assessed these associations separately by gender and education. Grandparenthood was associated with a substantially increased mortality risk in women (fully adjusted HR = 1.65; 95% CI 1.27-21.14), and increased with larger number of grandchildren. No significant association was found for men (fully adjusted HR=1.25; 95% CI 0.97-1.62). Mortality risks associated with grandparenthood were highest among grandparents with low levels of education. The findings are among the first to suggest a potential grandparenthood survival “penalty”, especially for grandmothers. Higher levels of education appear to mitigate this negative survival effect among grandparents.

Stronger engagement of older adults in social activities and greater embeddedness in networks is often argued to buffer cognitive decline and lower risks of dementia. One of the explanations is that interaction with other people trains the brain, thereby enhancing cognitive functioning. However, research on the relationship between personal networks and cognitive functioning is not yet conclusive. While previous studies have focused on the size of personal networks as a proxy of cognitive stimulation, little attention has been paid to the complexity of the personal network. Adults embedded in a broad range of network relationships (i.e., various relationship types) are likely to be exposed to a wider range of stimuli than adults embedded in a homogeneous network including similar relationship types. We expect that higher numbers of personal relationship types rather than a higher number of similar contacts relate to higher levels of cognitive functioning and slower cognitive decline. Data are from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) and include 2959 Dutch participants aged 54 to 85 at baseline in 1992 and six follow-ups covering a time span of twenty years. Cognitive functioning is assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and for network complexity we use the Social Network Index. We test our expectations using fixed-effects regression models. The results reveal that a reduction in network complexity is associated with a reduction in cognitive functioning, which is neither explained by size of the network nor by presence of specific relationship types. However, enhanced complexity has only a marginal buffering effect on decline in cognitive functioning. We conclude that network characteristics and cognitive functioning are intertwined and that their association is mostly cross-sectional in nature. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ObjectiveTo determine the factors that influence B-cell repopulation after B-cell depletion therapy in neurologic patients and derive recommendations for monitoring and dosing of patients.MethodsIn this study, we determined the association of body surface area (BSA; calculated by body weight and height with the Dubois formula), sex, pretreatment therapy, age, CSF data, and white blood cell counts with the risk and timing of B-cell repopulation, defined as 1% CD19+ cells (of total lymphocytes), following 87 B cell–depleting anti-CD20 treatment cycles of 45 neurologic patients (28 women; mean age ± SD, 44.5 ± 15.0 years).ResultsPatients with a larger BSA had a higher probability to reach 1% CD19+ cells than those with a smaller BSA (p < 0.05) following B-cell depletion therapy, although those patients had received BSA-adapted doses of rituximab (375 mg/m2). Sex, pretreatment, age, CSF data, or absolute lymphocyte and leukocyte counts during treatment did not significantly influence CD19+ B-cell recovery in the fully adjusted models. Intraindividual B-cell recovery in patients with several treatment cycles did not consistently change over time.ConclusionsB-cell repopulation after depletion therapy displays both high inter- and intra-individual variance. Our data indicate that a larger BSA is associated with faster repopulation of B cells, even when treatment is adapted to the BSA. A reason is the routinely used Dubois formula, underestimating a large BSA. In these patients, there is a need for a higher therapy dose. Because B-cell count–dependent therapy regimes are considered to reduce adverse events, B-cell monitoring will stay highly relevant. Patients' BSA should thus be determined using the Mosteller formula, and close monitoring should be done to avoid resurgent B cells and disease activity.

Social contacts of older people have consistently been associated with good health and longevity. The extent of individual social contacts, however, varies considerably between countries. We study why countries differ in amounts of social contacts of older adults. Using theory on income inequality and neo-materialism, we expect the amount of social contacts of older people to be highest in countries with low income inequality and comprehensive welfare spending. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the impact of country characteristics on social contacts differs with individual income and age. We combine individual-level data from the European Social Survey with country-level data from Eurostat, and test two dimensions of social contacts of people aged >= 60 years: having a close contact and meeting socially. Cross-national comparison of 27 European countries is realized through linear and logistic multilevel modelling. The results reveal partial support for our expectations. Income inequality and old-age poverty reduce the likelihood of having a close contact. Welfare spending, specifically expenditure on care for older adults and health services, has the potential to cancel out some of these negative effects. However, there were only small differences between age groups. The implications of these findings are being discussed.

Research in gerontology has demonstrated mixed effects of social support on cognitive decline and dementia: Social support has been shown to be protective in some studies, but not in others. Moreover, little is known about the underlying mechanisms between social support and cognitive functioning. We investigate one of the possible mechanisms, and argue that subjective appraisals rather than received amounts of social support affect cognitive functioning. Loneliness is seen as an unpleasant experience that occurs when a person's network of relationships is felt to be deficient in some important way. As such, loneliness describes the extent to which someone's needs are not being met and thus provides a subjective assessment of support quality. We expect that receiving instrumental and emotional support reduces loneliness, which in turn preserves cognitive functioning. Data are from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) and include 2255 Dutch participants aged 55-85 over a period of six years. Respondents were measured every three years. Cognitive functioning was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Coding Task, and the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. The analytical approach comprised latent growth mediation models. Frequent emotional support related to reduced feelings of loneliness and better cognitive functioning. Increases in emotional support also directly enhanced cognitive performance. The protective effect of emotional support was strongest amongst adults aged 65 years and older. Increase in instrumental support did not buffer cognitive decline, instead there were indications for faster decline. After ruling out the possibility of reversed causation, we conclude that emotional support relationships are a more powerful protector of cognitive decline than instrumental support relationships. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We examine the interplay between a person's individual preference and the social influence others exert. We provide a model of network relationships with conflicting preferences, where individuals are better off coordinating with those around them, but where not all have a preference for the same action. We test our model in an experiment, varying the level of conflicting preferences between individuals. Our findings suggest that preferences are more salient than social influence, under conflicting preferences: subjects relate mainly with others who have the same preferences. This leads to two undesirable outcomes: network segregation and social inefficiency. The same force that helps people individually, hurts society.

This article examines the complex issue of workplace gossip with the intention of providing managers with a deeper understanding of the various functions gossip serves within organizations.

Objectives: Integration into social networks is an important determinant of health and survival in late adulthood. We first identify different types of non-kin networks among older adults and second, investigate the association of these types with survival rates. Method: Official register information on mortality is combined with data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). The sample includes 2,440 Dutch respondents aged 54-85 at baseline in 1992 and six follow-ups covering a time span of 20 years. Using latent class analysis, respondents are classified into distinct types of non-kin networks, based on differences in number and variation of non-kin relations, social support received from non-kin, and contact frequency with non-kin. Next, membership in network types is related to mortality in a Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results: There are four latent types of non-kin networks that vary in network size and support. These types differ in their associations with mortality, independent of sociodemographic and health confounders. Older adults integrated into networks high in both number and variation of supportive non-kin contacts have higher chances of survival than older adults embedded in networks low in either amount or variation of support or both. Discussion: A combination of structural and functional network characteristics should be taken into account when developing intervention programs aiming at increasing social integration outside the family network.

BackgroundResearch on aging has consistently demonstrated an increased chance of survival for older adults who are integrated into rich networks of social relationships. Theoretical explanations state that personal networks offer indirect psychosocial and direct physiological pathways. We investigate whether effects on and pathways to mortality risk differ between functional and structural characteristics of the personal network. The objective is to inquire which personal network characteristics are the best predictors of mortality risk after adjustment for mental, cognitive and physical health.Methods and FindingsEmpirical tests were carried out by combining official register information on mortality with data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). The sample included 2,911 Dutch respondents aged 54 to 85 at baseline in 1992 and six follow-ups covering a time span of twenty years. Four functional characteristics (emotional and social loneliness, emotional and instrumental support) and four structural characteristics (living arrangement, contact frequency, number of contacts, number of social roles) of the personal network as well as mental, cognitive and physical health were assessed at all LASA follow-ups. Statistical analyses comprised of Cox proportional hazard regression models. Findings suggest differential effects of personal network characteristics on survival, with only small gender differences. Mortality risk was initially reduced by functional characteristics, but disappeared after full adjustment for the various health variables. Mortality risk was lowest for older adults embedded in large (HR = 0.986, 95% CI 0.979-0.994) and diverse networks (HR = 0.948, 95% CI 0.917-0.981), and this effect continued to show in the fully adjusted models.ConclusionsFunctional characteristics (i.e. emotional and social loneliness) are indirectly associated with a reduction in mortality risk, while structural characteristics (i.e. number of contacts and number of social roles) have direct protective effects. More research is needed to understand the causal mechanisms underlying these relations.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies are inconclusive on whether poor socioeconomic conditions in the neighborhood are associated with major depressive disorder. Furthermore, conceptual models that relate neighborhood conditions to depressive disorder have not been evaluated using empirical data. In this study, we investigated whether neighborhood income is associated with major depressive episodes. We evaluated three conceptual models. Conceptual model 1: The association between neighborhood income and major depressive episodes is explained by diseases, lifestyle factors, stress and social participation. Conceptual model 2: A low individual income relative to the mean income in the neighborhood is associated with major depressive episodes. Conceptual model 3: A high income of the neighborhood buffers the effect of a low individual income on major depressive disorder.METHODS: We used adult baseline data from the LifeLines Cohort Study (N = 71,058) linked with data on the participants' neighborhoods from Statistics Netherlands. The current presence of a major depressive episode was assessed using the MINI neuropsychiatric interview. The association between neighborhood income and major depressive episodes was assessed using a mixed effect logistic regression model adjusted for age, sex, marital status, education and individual (equalized) income. This regression model was sequentially adjusted for lifestyle factors, chronic diseases, stress, and social participation to evaluate conceptual model 1. To evaluate conceptual models 2 and 3, an interaction term for neighborhood income*individual income was included.RESULTS: Multivariate regression analysis showed that a low neighborhood income is associated with major depressive episodes (OR (95 % CI): 0.82 (0.73;0.93)). Adjustment for diseases, lifestyle factors, stress, and social participation attenuated this association (ORs (95 % CI): 0.90 (0.79;1.01)). Low individual income was also associated with major depressive episodes (OR (95 % CI): 0.72 (0.68;0.76)). The interaction of individual income*neighborhood income on major depressive episodes was not significant (p = 0.173).CONCLUSIONS: Living in a low-income neighborhood is associated with major depressive episodes. Our results suggest that this association is partly explained by chronic diseases, lifestyle factors, stress and poor social participation, and thereby partly confirm conceptual model 1. Our results do not support conceptual model 2 and 3.