@angLifeCourseSocial2019

(2019) - Shannon Ang

Journal: Advances in Life Course Research
Link:: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040260818301874
DOI:: 10.1016/j.alcr.2019.02.002
Links::
Tags:: #paper #LifeCourse #SocialTheory
Cite Key:: [@angLifeCourseSocial2019]

Abstract

Social connectedness has emerged in recent decades as a key determinant of well-being. Considering its importance, several studies have sought to describe how overall trends in society have changed over the years, while others have been more concerned with how it changes as individuals age. This study set out to synthesize these two strands of research by describing age-cohort trends of social connectedness, using social participation as the key indicator. Data are from the Americans’ Changing Lives survey, a nationally representative panel dataset with an accelerated longitudinal design, collected over 25 years. Multivariate Bayesian generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) were utilized to estimate age-cohort trajectories of formal and informal social participation. Findings show that even as informal social participation decreases with age, formal social participation increases – suggesting some form of compensatory mechanism. Further, while informal social participation remains stable across cohorts, formal social participation increases in later cohorts. These results suggest that the isolation of old age or overall societal declines in social participation in America may be overestimated by some observers, but more research is needed to more comprehensively describe how other aspects of social connectedness are distributed over the life course.

Notes

"while informal social participation remains stable across cohorts, formal social participation increases in later cohorts" (Ang 2019:13)

"isolation of old age or overall societal declines in social participation in America may be overestimated by some observers" (Ang 2019:13)

"Researchers have consistently found that higher levels of social connectedness are linked to desirable outcomes such as increased political participation (Paxton, 2002; Reilly, 2017), and better health outcomes (Cornwell & Waite, 2009; Kawachi, Subramanian, & Kim, 2008)." (Ang 2019:13)

"lack of social connectedness (i.e., social isolation) often leads to increased mortality risk (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, Baker, Harris, & Stephenson, 2015), and can exacerbate the negative consequences from natural disasters (e.g., a heat wave, Klinenberg, 2001)." (Ang 2019:13)

"Social connectedness has emerged in recent decades as a key determinant of well-being" (Ang 2019:13)

"Yet despite the vast attention placed on the decline and/or continuity of social connectedness in society, the current literature has not managed to fully address one crucial question are these patterns - (whether decline or continuity) primarily a result of the rapidly changing population age composition, or of cohort changes in other areas (e.g., culture, marriage/employment patterns)?" (Ang 2019:13)

"Multivariate Bayesian generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) were utilized to estimate age-cohort trajectories of formal and informal social participation." (Ang 2019:13)

"even as informal social participation decreases with age, formal social participation increases suggesting some form of compensatory mechanism -" (Ang 2019:13)

"Social connectedness is a general term broadly encompassing the quantity, quality, frequency, type and network structure of one's relationships with friends, family, and the community" (Ang 2019:14)

"is accepted that these aspects of social connectedness change over time, owing to shifts in individual life circumstances (age effects) and generational differences (cohort effects)" (Ang 2019:14)

"Existing social theory concerning age trajectories of social connectedness have focused heavily on late-life circumstances, attempting to describe the aging process" (Ang 2019:14)

"Disengagement theory expects that older adults will gradually and permanently retreat from their social" (Ang 2019:14)

"involvements as they age and approach the time of their deaths (Cumming & Henry, 1961)." (Ang 2019:14)

"Arguments around the decline (or continuity) of connectedness in American society are intricately linked to cohort change. Putnam (2000:257) claims that the primary driver of social decline is cohort (or generational') difference, pointing to the existence of a long civic ' " generation, born roughly between 1910 and 1940, a broad group of people substantially more engaged in community affairs and more trusting than those younger than they"." (Ang 2019:14)

"Both Putnam (2000) and Fischer (2011) acknowledge that at least part of this cohort change may be due to demographic shifts in areas such as education, marriage, and parenthood." (Ang 2019:14)

"This integral component of connectedness is social participation, on which both Putnam (2000) and Fischer (2011) have relied heavily on despite making wider arguments about social connectedness in general." (Ang 2019:15)

"Two distinct but related aspects of social participation are thought connectedness1 to constitute a fundamental part of our social : formal social participation (e.g., attendance and engagement in community groups and organizations), and informal social participation (e.g., contact and activities with friends and family) (Levasseur, Richard, Gauvin, & Raymond, 2010; Teele, 1962; van Ingen, 2008)." (Ang 2019:15)

"By contrast, measures of social participation tend to remain relatively stable over short to medium periods of time with good test-retest reliability (Bukov, Maas, & Lampert, 2002; Hyyppä, Märki, Alanen, Impivaara, & Aromaa, 2008; Stansfeld & Marmot, 1992)." (Ang 2019:15)

"Unfortunately, longitudinal panel data on other aspects of social connectedness are scarce. On the other hand, the frequency of social contact is often a pre-requisite for the maintenance of meaningful relationships, regardless of location in the life course" (Ang 2019:15)

"The measures for social participation here are derived from work in Veroff, Kulka, and Douvan (1981)." (Ang 2019:15)

"To further validate the division of items into scales of formal and informal social participation (in line with what has been suggested in past studies), I performed Mokken scale analyses to check if the items could be put together in a single scale for ease of interpretation" (Ang 2019:15)

"Mokken scale analysis is a non-parametric item response theory method suitable for scales with few items (van Schuur, 2003)." (Ang 2019:16)

"Age" (Ang 2019:16)

"Descriptive statistics of the sample can be found in Table 1. Respondents contributed a mean of 2.52 person-year observations in the model, and had an average age of 52.04." (Ang 2019:17)

"First, age trends show disparate trajectories for formal and informal social participation" (Ang 2019:18)

"Second, the results from cohort trends of formal and informal social participation lend credence to Fischer's (2011) argument that Americans' social relationships with friends and family did not change much" (Ang 2019:18)

"sum, results suggest little reason for anxiety around the isolation of old age or overall societal declines in social connectedness in America." (Ang 2019:21)

"First,findings here are limited by the type and the breadth of the measures used" (Ang 2019:21)

"Second, cohort changes tested here are reflective of the experience of those born before 1961" (Ang 2019:21)

"Third, the current method of analysis - using growth curves for accelerated longitudinal data - cannot explicitly model period effects (alongside age and cohort effects), an identification issue inherent in all age-period-cohort analysis (Yang, 2011)." (Ang 2019:21)

"Fourth, it is likely that social participation is transmitted inter-generationally, where individuals whose parents were active social participants also become highly involved in social activities (Anderson, 1943; McFarland & Thomas, 2006)" (Ang 2019:21)

"Fifth, while attempts to address attrition bias have been modelled, it cannot be said to have been completely addressed." (Ang 2019:21)