Social Relationships in Later Life: The Role of Childhood Circumstances

Sarah Gibney, Mark McGovern and Erika Sabbath
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Sarah Gibney: University College Dublin
Erika Sabbath: Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

No 201319, Working Papers from Geary Institute, University College Dublin

Abstract: Social relationships predict health and emotional wellbeing across the life course. However, it is not known whether gradients in social engagement, social network size or quality in later life mirror socio-economic and health gradients in childhood. This study investigates the long-term impact of childhood circumstances on social relationships. Data are from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe; a panel survey of people aged 50+. Current social network attributes (size, satisfaction and emotional closeness) and retrospective life history data on childhood health, cognition, SES, and parental characteristics are utilized. Regression analysis indicates that childhood circumstances predict social network attributes in later life. Emotional closeness partly mediates the relationship between childhood circumstances and social network satisfaction. A strong but differential association between aspects of childhood circumstance and social network attributes was evident. Therefore we critique the index measurement approach which conflates diverse pathways linking childhood and late-life outcomes.

Keywords: Social relationships; Ageing; Europe; Childhood conditions; Life course (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 J14 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2013-10-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-eur, nep-hap and nep-soc
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201319

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