What really matters in the social network–mortality association? A multivariate examination among older Jewish-Israelis |
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Authors: | Howard Litwin |
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Institution: | (1) Israel Gerontological Data Center, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, 91905 Jerusalem, Israel |
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Abstract: | The aim of the inquiry was to examine the social network–mortality association within a wider multivariate context that accounts
for the effects of background framing forces and psychobiological pathways. The inquiry was based upon the Berkman et al.
(2000) conceptual model of the determinants of health. Its main purpose was to identify the salient network correlates of 7-year
all cause mortality among Jewish men and women, aged 70 and over, in Israel (n = 1,811). The investigation utilized baseline data from a national household survey of older adults from 1997 that was linked
to records from the National Death Registry, updated through 2004. At the time of the study, 38% of the sample had died. Multivariate
Cox hazard regressions identified two main network-related components as predictors of survival: contact with friends, a social
network interaction variable, and attendance at a synagogue, a social engagement variable. Friendship ties are seen to uniquely
reduce mortality risk because they are based on choice in nature, and reflect a sense of personal control. Synagogue attendance
is seen to promote survival mainly through its function as a source of communal attachment and, perhaps, as a reflection of
spirituality as well. Other possibly network-related correlates of mortality were also noted in the current analysis—the receipt
of instrumental support and the state of childlessness.
The study on which this article is based was made possible by grants from the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology to
the Israel Gerontological Data Center. |
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Keywords: | Mortality Social network Friends Synagogue Jews Israel |
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