Centre for Policy on Ageing



Health as status? — Network relations and social structure in an American retirement community
Author(s)	Markus H Schafer
Journal title	Ageing and Society, vol 36, no 1, January 2016
Publisher	Cambridge University Press, January 2016
Pages	pp 79-105
Source	journals.cambridge.org/aso
Keywords	Health [elderly] ; Social contacts ; Retirement communities ; Social surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	The author considers the social ties within a community of retirement residents in order to examine how health influences patterns of social interaction. Drawing from a social fields perspective, he anticipated that health would emerge as a key form of status. He hypothesised that this would manifest in the healthiest residents receiving a disproportionate share of social tie nominations, and that the network would be characterised by distinct patterns of health-based sorting. Exponential random graph models were used to disentangle individual, dyadic and higher-order influences on reports of interaction. Findings support the main hypotheses, pointing to the importance of health as a basis of micro-level social structure in contexts where it is a scarce and valued resource. The author urges that further research is conducted to trace out these implications in other unique settings. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-160105005 A
Classmark	CC: TOA: ROA: 3F: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.