social network types and functional dependency in older adults in mexico社交网络类型和功能依赖老年人在墨西哥.pdf

Doubova (Dubova) et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:104 /1471-2458/10/104 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Social network types and functional dependency in older adults in Mexico 1† 1*† 2 Svetlana Vladislavovna Doubova (Dubova) , Ricardo Pérez-Cuevas , Patricia Espinosa-Alarcón , Sergio Flores-Hernández3 Abstract Background: Social networks play a key role in caring for older adults. A better understanding of the characteristics of different social networks types (TSNs) in a given community provides useful information for designing policies to care for this age group. Therefore this study has three objectives: 1) To derive the TSNs among older adults affiliated with the Mexican Institute of Social Security; 2) To describe the main characteristics of the older adults in each TSN, including the instrumental and economic support they receive and their satisfaction with the network; 3) To determine the association between functional dependency and the type of social network. Methods: Secondary data analysis of the 2006 Survey of Autonomy and Dependency (N = 3,348). The TSNs were identified using the structural approach and cluster analysis. The association between functional dependency and the TSNs was evaluated with Poisson regression with robust variance analysis in which socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle and medical history covariates were included. Results: We identified five TSNs: diverse with community participation (12.1%), diverse without community participation (44.3%); widowed (32.0%); nonfriends-restricted (7.6%); nonfamily-restricted (4.0%). Older adults belonging to widowed and restricted networks showed a higher proportion of dependency, negative self-rated health an