Close social networks among older adults: the online and offline perspectives

B. Sofia Gil-Clavel, Emilio Zagheni and Valeria Bordone
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B. Sofia Gil-Clavel: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Emilio Zagheni: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Valeria Bordone: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

No WP-2020-035, MPIDR Working Papers from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

Abstract: Qualitative studies have found that the use of Information and Communication Technologies is related to an enhanced quality of life for older adults, as these technologies might act as a medium to access social capital regardless of distance. In order to quantitatively study the association between older people’s characteristics and the likelihood of having a network of close friends offline and online, we use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and from Facebook. Using a novel approach to analyze aggregated and anonymous Facebook data within a regression framework, we show that the associations between having close friends and age, sex and being a parent are the same offline and online. Migrants who use internet are less likely to have close friends offline, but migrants who are Facebook users are more likely to have close friends online, suggesting that digital relationships may compensate for the potential lack of offline close friendships among older migrants.

Keywords: Europe; old age; social capital; social network (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-ict, nep-net, nep-pay, nep-soc and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2020-035

DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2020-035

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