A 10-Year Follow-Up Study of Social Ties and Functional Health among the Old: The AGES Project

Chiyoe Murata, Tami Saito, Taishi Tsuji, Masashige Saito and Katsunori Kondo
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Chiyoe Murata: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka, Obu 474-8511, Japan
Tami Saito: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka, Obu 474-8511, Japan
Taishi Tsuji: Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
Masashige Saito: Department of Social Welfare, Nihon Fukushi University, Okuda, Mihamacho, Chita-gun, Aichi 470-3295, Japan
Katsunori Kondo: Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-9

Abstract: In Asian nations, family ties are considered important. However, it is not clear what happens among older people with no such ties. To investigate the association, we used longitudinal data from the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) project. Functionally independent older people at baseline ( N = 14,088) in 10 municipalities were followed from 2003 to 2013. Social ties were assessed by asking about their social support exchange with family, relatives, friends, or neighbors. Cox proportional hazard models were employed to investigate the association between social ties and the onset of functional disability adjusting for age, health status, and living arrangement. We found that social ties with co-residing family members, and those with friends or neighbors, independently protected functional health with hazard ratios of 0.81 and 0.85 among men. Among women, ties with friend or neighbors had a stronger effect on health compared to their male counterparts with a hazard ratio of 0.89. The fact that social ties with friends or neighbors are associated with a lower risk of functional decline, independent of family support, serves to underscore the importance of promoting social ties, especially among those lacking family ties.

Keywords: social ties; social support; functional health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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