Networked lives: Probing the influence of social networks on the life course.

Social network research is well-equipped to help life course scholars produce a deeper and more nuanced approach to the principle of "linked lives," one of the cornerstones of the field. In this issue on Networked Lives, nine original articles and two commentaries generate new theories, empirical findings and methodological applications at the intersection of the fields of social networks and life course research. In this introduction, we reflect on these advances, highlighting key findings and challenges that await scholars in building more robust synergy between the two fields. Social networks emerge as key structural forces in life courses, yet there is much to learn about the mechanisms through which their effects on people's lives come about. There is a need to study further how networks evolve through the rhythm of life events, and to analyze broader and more complex networks that capture the roles and influences of relations beyond intimate or family ties. These papers demonstrate that there is much to be gained in probing how individuals are linked to and unlinked from others over time, and in carrying conceptual and methodological advances across social network and life course studies.

Exposure to the 1959-1961 Chinese famine and risk of non-communicable diseases in later life: A life course perspective.

Child undernutrition and later-life non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are major global health issues. Literature suggests that undernutrition/famine exposure in childhood has immediate and long-term adverse health consequences. However, many studies have theoretical and methodological limitations. To add to the literature and overcome some of these limitations, we adopted a life course perspective and used more robust methods. We investigated the association between exposure to the 1959-1961 Chinese famine and later-life NCDs and if this association depends on: life stage at exposure, famine severity, and sex. We conducted a secondary data analysis of a large-scale, nationally representative, longitudinal study-the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2018, 11,094 participants). We measured famine exposure/severity using self-reported experience, life stage using age at exposure, and health using the number of NCDs. We performed Poisson growth curve models. We obtained three findings. First, compared with unexposed participants, those exposed before age 18 had a higher risk of later-life NCDs, particularly if exposed in-utero (IRR = 1.90, 95% CI [1.70, 2.12], p < .001) and in the "first 1,000 days" of life (IRR = 1.86, 95% CI [1.73, 2.00], p < .001; for 0-6 months group, IRR = 1.95, 95% CI [1.67, 2.29], p < .001). Second, the famine effects among participants moderately and severely exposed were similar (IRR = 1.18, 95% CI [1.09, 1.28], p < .001 and IRR = 1.24, 95% CI [1.17, 1.32], p < .001). Third, the famine effects did not differ between females and males (IRR = 0.98, 95% CI [0.90, 1.07], p = .703). In an individual's life course, in-utero and the "first 1,000 days" are a particularly sensitive time period with marked long-term implications for NCDs if undernutrition/famine is experienced in this period. However, this window remains open until young adulthood. This highlights the need to invest more in preventing and treating child/adolescent undernutrition to tackle later-life NCDs.

Evolution of the income-related gap in health with old age: evidence from 20 countries in European and Chinese panel datasets.

Some studies show that the protective effect of higher income on health weakens with old age (age-as-leveller pattern), whereas others show that it strengthens with old age (cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Many existing studies are limited in that they use single-country and/or single-timepoint designs. To overcome these limitations and better understand how the income-health gradient evolves in older age, we used cross-national and longitudinal data of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004-2019, N = 73,407) and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2018, N = 10,067). We operationalised health using multimorbidity and three alternative indicators (functional disability, mobility disability, and memory). We performed Poisson growth curve modelling to capture the between-participant effects of age and the within-participant effects of aging. We obtained three consistent and robust findings for Europe (patterns were observed in most countries) and China. First, the protective effect of higher income on multimorbidity, functional disability, and mobility disability was weaker for older than for younger adults (between-participant age-as-leveller pattern). Second, only the protective effect of higher income on mobility disability weakened over the later life course (within-participant age-as-leveller pattern). Third, the protective effect of higher income on memory was stronger for older than for younger adults and strengthened over the later life course (between-participant and within-participant cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Longitudinal data, growth curve modelling distinguishing the between-participant from within-participant effect, and adjustments for potential confounders based on the hypothesised causal structure enabled us to better navigate the landscape of causal inference. Findings suggest that the income-related gap in physical health but not in cognitive health narrows in old age for both Europe and China.

Earlier-life individual and spatial socioeconomic conditions and later-life physical activity.

This study investigated the association between earlier-life (before age 16) individual and spatial socioeconomic conditions and later-life (mean age 61) physical activity (PA), and the role of later-life characteristics. Contemporary and historical Census data as well as three bi-annual waves of nationally representative panel data from the Understanding America Study (N = 1,981) were used. Multilevel growth curve models were estimated to address the research questions. Father's education in respondents' earlier life was positively associated with light and moderate PA in respondents' later life. Growing up in a higher-poverty area was negatively associated with moderate and vigorous later-life PA. Findings underscore the long-term ramifications of earlier-life circumstances for later-life PA. Consideration should be given to socioeconomic conditions at both individual and spatial levels over the life course to promote PA at older ages.

Beyond Geography: Social Quality Environments and Health.

The concept of social quality has garnered increasing attention as a composite indicator of the well-being of societies as well as individuals embedded within them. Prior research suggests four domains of social quality: socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion, and social empowerment, based on the assumption that these domains influence health and well-being. In this paper, we investigate whether and to what extent social quality environments defined with reference to the cross-cutting social quality domains reliably predict various types of health, using data collected in a municipality in Switzerland as part of a participatory action research project. We found that social inclusion had the highest predictive power for mental health and functional health, while economic security had the highest predictive power for physical capacity and overall self-rated health. Results indicate interaction among various domains of social quality for a subset of health measures. Findings suggest that environments defined as combinations of social quality domains effectively distinguish between population segments with varying levels of health. Social quality represents a promising avenue for policy and intervention development, particularly from the social determinants of health perspective, as it jointly captures the multiple domains of social well-being relevant to population health. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11205-023-03073-1.

The LIVES Daily Hassles Scale and Its Relation to Life Satisfaction.

Although daily hassles have been of interest since the 1980s, only a few tools have been developed to assess them. Most of them are checklists or open-ended questions that are demanding for participants in panel surveys. Therefore, to facilitate daily hassles integration into large surveys, the aim of this study was to present a new tool assessing daily hassles, the LIVES-Daily Hassles Scale (LIVES-DHS), and to examine its relation to life satisfaction, in a sample of 1,170 French- and German-speaking adults living in Switzerland. In a first random subsample, we conducted a principal axis factor analysis, and the results suggested a five-factor solution. Furthermore, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on a second random subsample, and it supported the hierarchical factor structure of the scale. The LIVES-DHS consists of 18 items represented by five factors that describe five sources of daily hassles: financial, physical, relational, environmental, and professional. The bivariate correlations showed that the LIVES-DHS could differentiate the concept of daily hassles from associated concepts. Finally, the hierarchical regression showed that daily hassles negatively predicted life satisfaction and added a significant incremental variance beyond that accounted for by age, gender, household income, education level, and personality traits.

A dual-path psychosocial model of social determinants of health in the community: Results from the Cause Commune program.

We tested a dual-path psychosocial framework of social vulnerability that considers the impact of socioeconomic resources and cognitive social capital on health, and whether they were mediated by an enabling psychosocial path (collective efficacy) and a disabling path (loneliness). A total of 1401 people (53.6% female, Mage = 48.7, SD = 18.1) from a community in Switzerland participated in the study. Structural equation models showed that psychosocial factors were related to both social determinants and health outcomes and partially mediated their interrelation. Our model showed an adequate fit to the data (χ2 = 1,377.56, df = 341, p = 0.000, comparative fit index = 0.93, root mean square error of approximation = 0.05, standardized root mean-squared residual = 0.05). The findings highlight the role of psychosocial-relational factors in the processes of social vulnerability and would be of interest to researchers working on social vulnerability in the community.

The mediating role of self-continuity on the link between childhood adversity and loneliness in later life.

Many factors may influence adaptation to critical life events such as divorce and bereavement in the second half of life, including having faced childhood adversity. However, pathways to reduced adaptation success are poorly understood. Self-continuity, an identity mechanism that incorporates life changes into a coherent life story, may contribute to better adaptation to adult critical life events, such as feeling less socially and emotionally lonely. We investigated the mediating role of self-continuity channeling the effects of childhood adversity on later life adaptation outcomes among individuals who had experienced divorce or bereavement. Data were derived from the longitudinal LIVES Intimate Partner Loss Study conducted in Switzerland from 2012 to 2016. The sample consisted of individuals who had experienced divorce (n = 416, Mage = 57.35) or bereavement (n = 339, Mage = 71.36) in later life, and a continuously married control group (n = 925, Mage = 67.04). Multilevel moderated mediations were used. Self-continuity mediated the effect of childhood adversity on emotional loneliness for all marital groups, but to a greater extent among divorcees. Self-continuity also mediated the effect of childhood adversity on social loneliness; however, this effect did not differ by marital group. In conclusion, childhood adversity was associated to greater loneliness in later life through self-continuity. Divorcees were the most impacted group regarding emotional loneliness, as they experienced lower levels of self-continuity. Interventions that aim to reinforce self-continuity may help overcome social and emotional loneliness, especially for individuals who have experienced the loss of their partner through divorce.

Intersectional social identities and loneliness: Evidence from a municipality in Switzerland.

We examined the extent to which intersectional social identities combine to shape risks of loneliness and identified the specific social clusters that are most at risk of loneliness for more precise and targeted interventions to reduce loneliness in a Swiss municipality. Based on data collected using participatory action research, we used the novel multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (MAIHDA) to estimate the predictive power of intersectional social attributes on risk of loneliness. We found that 56% of the between-strata variance was captured by intersectional interaction but was not explained by the additive effect of social identities. We also found that nationality and education had the strongest predictive power for loneliness. Interventions to reduce loneliness may benefit from understanding the resident population's intersectional identities given that individuals with the same combinations of social identities face a common set of social exposures relating to loneliness.

Financial scarcity undermines health across the globe and the life course.

The gradient between income and health is well established: the lower the income, the poorer the health. However, low income (having few economic resources) may not be enough to characterize economic vulnerability, and financial scarcity (perceiving having insufficient economic resources) may further reduce health. First, analysis of cross-national data (275,000+ participants from 200+ country-years) revealed that financial scarcity was associated with twice the odds of suffering from reduced self-rated health and feelings of unhappiness; this association was observed in ≈90% of the country-years and explained variance over and above income. Second, analysis of national longitudinal data (20,000+ participants over 20 years of assessment) revealed that facing financial scarcity in the course of one's life decreased self-rated and objective health and increased feelings of depression; again, these effects explained variance over and above income. Two subsidiary findings were obtained: (i) three adverse life events (illness, separation, family conflicts) predicted financial scarcity over the life course, and (ii) self-mastery (a component of sense of control) accounted for the detrimental longitudinal effects of financial scarcity on health. This research suggests that to understand socioeconomic inequality in health, one should consider not only an individual's quantity of monetary resources but also the perceived sufficiency of these resources.

Multilevel networks and status attainment.

Through Nan Lin's social resource theory, network studies have demonstrated the importance of personal contacts for status attainment. Achieving better occupations, wages, or social prestige depends not only on individual skills and personal resources, such as social class or human capital. Personal networks are also important structural factors because they provide access to social resources that are critical to careers, such as information and social support. Today, new research angles emerge from analyses of multilevel networks (AMN) on additional structural factors that are important for status attainment: the advantages of belonging to powerful and prestigious organizations and accessing through them complementary forms of social capital. From a series of AMN studies on one élite group of researchers, the importance of these structural aspects for professional careers emerge through concepts such as 'dual positioning' and 'dual alters', offering hypotheses that complement Nan Lin's theory in each of its postulates. Taking these hypotheses into account, the article formulates a model for the study of status attainment consisting of four arguments: (1) individuals' initial positions, (2) access to social capital, and the impact of its (3) mobilization on (4) socioeconomic returns. The article discusses the analytical strategies that emerge from this model, opening up new prospects for investigating the role played by social networks in status attainment.

Reducing loneliness in older adults: looking at locals and migrants in a Swiss case study.

Older adults are at a high risk for loneliness, and community-based interventions can help reduce loneliness for all older adults in a community, regardless of their migration status. However, little research has investigated how older adults, including locals and migrants (in this case, internal newcomers and international expats) participate in these interventions. The "Neighbourhoods in Solidarity" (NS) are a series of community-based interventions that aim to increase social connectedness and reduce loneliness in older adults (55+) in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. This longitudinal embedded mixed-methods study aimed to understand whether older adults (distinguishing between locals, newcomers, and expats) were aware of and participated in the NS, to assess whether participation was associated with changes in loneliness, and to identify relevant processes that could explain a reduction in loneliness. We combined a longitudinal pre/post survey (235 respondents) with ethnographic observations and informal interviews. Quantitative findings showed that individuals who participated in the NS did not have significant changes in loneliness. Qualitative findings showed that perceived migration played an important role in who participated, and that the community distinguished between two types of migrants: newcomers who spoke French fluently, and expats who did not. Individuals were only 'local' if they had ancestors from the town. Some newcomers and some locals used the NS as a platform to build a new sense of community within the NS, whereas expats rarely participated. This was due to linguistic and cultural determinants, institutional constraints, interpersonal relationships, and personal preferences.

The Impact of Laws on Norms Perceptions.

When opinions in a society change toward more or less tolerance of a group, people do not necessarily see it. Drawing on a quasi-representative survey (Study 1, N = 830) and a natural experiment (Study 2, N = 437), we investigated people's perceptions of the societal norms toward sexual minorities and the influence of laws on these (mis-)perceptions. Study 1 indicated pluralistic ignorance as participants overestimated the societal disapproval toward same-sex issues. Complementing this finding, Study 2 found that informing participants about a new law legalizing stepchild adoption decreased perceived societal disapproval of same-sex parenting compared with participants not informed about the law. Pluralistic ignorance, however, was not affected by the new law. While results indicate that pluralistic ignorance may be more resilient to change, they also highlight that laws can have a dual impact on societies, changing not only the legal situation but also shifting perceptions of societal norms.

Place, social capital, and mental health: A mixed-methods case study of a community-based intervention.

This study collaborated with the "Neighbourhoods in Solidarity" (NS) action research intervention to understand place, social capital, and mental health for older adults in one Swiss town. It used a longitudinal mixed-methods design, combing a pre/post survey with ethnographic observations. It found that place was a recurring theme throughout the NS intervention and how the NS were able to build social capital. Older adults who participated in the NS experienced an increase in structural social capital, but many participants already had high levels of structural social capital before the intervention. Participants did not experience a significant change in cognitive social capital, but this may have been due to a general decline in cognitive social capital in the area. Neither changes in cognitive nor structural social capital predicted depressive symptoms after one year.

The relation of low cognitive abilities to low well-being in old age is attenuated in individuals with greater cognitive reserve and greater social capital accumulated over the life course.

Objectives: The present study sets out to investigate the relation of cognitive abilities to well-being and its interplay with key life course proxies of cognitive reserve and social capital in a large sample of older adults.Method: Three thousand eighty older adults served as sample for the present study. Physical well-being (EuroQoL-5D questionnaire) and psychological well-being (Satisfaction with Life Scale) as well as cognitive performance in terms of verbal abilities (Mill Hill vocabulary scale), processing speed (Trail Making Test part A), and cognitive flexibility (Trail Making Test part B) were assessed. Participants reported information on education, occupation, cognitively stimulating leisure activities, the different languages regularly spoken as well as family and close friends.Results: Moderation analyses showed that the relation of cognitive performance to physical and psychological well-being was significantly attenuated in individuals with a higher cognitive level of the first job after education, a larger number of midlife and current cognitively stimulating leisure activities, a larger number of languages regularly spoken, a larger number of significant family members and friends, and more frequent contact with and more confidence in significant family members.Conclusion: Present data suggest that the relation of low cognitive abilities to low well-being in old age is attenuated in individuals with greater cognitive reserve and greater social capital accumulated over the life course.

Protocol of a longitudinal study on the specific needs of Syrian refugee families in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: The ongoing Syrian civil war has led to massive population displacements, leading to the reorganization of the asylum policies of several countries. Accordingly, like other European countries, the Swiss government has recently chosen to implement a specific resettlement program. This program is characterized by the fact that the whole nuclear family is granted a work and residence permit upon arrival, and benefits from enhanced integration services. The aim of the present project is to evaluate the effects of the Swiss resettlement program, with a special focus on mental health, while adopting a family perspective. METHODS: The outcomes of 15 Syrian families taking part in this program will be compared to those of 15 Syrian families that came to Switzerland through other means (i.e., following the usual asylum procedure, which is much more stressful and time consuming). Each family member above 8 years old will be invited to participate to a 3-wave longitudinal survey concerning the resettlement process: upon arrival in the collective shelters, six and 12 months later. Questionnaires will be used for the evaluation of participants' mental health, risk behaviors, general health, romantic relationship, parent-child relationship, family functioning, parentification, social support, and social identities related to group belongingness. DISCUSSION: The findings of the present project will provide longitudinal information on Syrian refugees. A comprehensive approach will be adopted by screening potential difficulties that the sample may be faced with and potential strengths that participants may rely on. Accordingly, physical and mental health, as well as the quality of family functioning, the feeling of support and of belongingness to different groups will be evaluated. We will also compare the results of families who had the chance to immigrate through the Swiss resettlement program, to the results of families that did not. This comparison will allow the elaboration of hypotheses regarding adjusted asylum policies. Furthermore, it will enhance our knowledge regarding the impact of displacement on the family system. Indeed, although the role of the family for the well-being of adults and children has been established, surprisingly few studies have adopted this focus in the asylum field.

Social capital and health: A systematic review of systematic reviews.

There are many systematic reviews on social capital (SC) and various health outcomes, but each of these reviews shows one piece of the larger SC and health puzzle. The aim of this research was to systematically review systematic reviews on SC and health, in order to provide an overview of existing evidence and to identify strategies for future research. Nine databases were searched for key words that could fall under the broad umbrella of SC and health outcomes. We screened 4941 titles and abstracts and read 187 reviews before retaining 20 of them. A critical appraisal of each review was conducted. The reviews show there is good evidence to suggest that SC predicts better mental and physical health, and indicators of SC are protective against mortality. At the same time, many reviews also found numerous non-significant and negative relationships that are important to consider. It was unclear whether SC interventions for health were really improving SC, or other aspects of the social environment. Overall, this research shows that evidence on how various aspects of SC affect different health outcomes for different actors remains unclear. Intergroup and lifecourse perspectives could help clarify this link. Future research could benefit from conceptualizing the link between SC and health in a what, who, where, when, why and how framework.

Social Loneliness after Divorce: Time-Dependent Differential Benefits of Personality, Multiple Important Group Memberships, and Self-Continuity.

BACKGROUND: Critical events in the second half of life, such as divorce, pose a significant threat to well-being. Individuals undergoing divorce often experience feelings of social loneliness and may benefit differently from available resources depending on how much time has passed since the event. Personality traits have been found to be related to adaptation, with particularly strong effects immediately after the critical event. Other resources, such as identity-stabilizing mechanisms (i.e., valued social groups and self-continuity), may play a role only later in adaptation. However, little is known about the benefits of these resources and their potentially time-dependent effects on social loneliness when one is overcoming later-life divorce. OBJECTIVES: This study investigates the role of psychological (e.g., personality, self-continuity, multiple important group memberships) and social resources (e.g., new partner, having someone to help deal with divorce) for social loneliness in two post-divorce phases, using a married group as the reference, controlling for sociodemographic aspects and health. METHODS: A representative sample of 850 divorced (aged 40-79 years) and 869 married individuals (aged 40-78 years) living in Switzerland were compared, using multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: Differential predictive patterns for social loneliness between the two divorced groups and the married group were observed. For the short-term divorced (up to 2 years after divorce), higher extroversion and agreeableness and lower neuroticism were associated with lower levels of loneliness. For the long-term divorced (2-5 years after divorce) and for those who remained married, extroversion was similarly important for loneliness. Additionally, higher levels of self-continuity and multiple group memberships predicted lower loneliness, but the short-term divorced did not benefit from them. Having someone to help overcome the divorce benefited members of both divorced groups. A new partner was related to less loneliness, but only in the long-term divorced group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that the effects of psychological and social resources on social loneliness vary by adaptation phase. Although extroversion is beneficial for all divorced and married individuals, other personality traits play a more decisive role in the initial adaptation phase. Identity-promoting resources (i.e., multiple group memberships, perceived self-continuity) are beneficial only later in the adaptation process. To be successful, professional interventions must be tailored as needed.

Frailty in aging and its influence on perceived stress exposure and stress-related symptoms: evidence from the Swiss Vivre/Leben/Vivere study.

Frailty is a core concept in understanding vulnerability and adjustment to stress in older adults. Adopting the perspective provided by the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus and Folkman in Stress, appraisal, and coping, Springer, New York, 1984), the present study examined three aspects of frailty in older adults: (1) the link between frailty and perceived stress exposure (PSE); (2) the link between frailty and stress-related symptoms (SRS); and (3) the role of frailty in the link between PSE and SRS. Participants were 2711 adults aged between 64 and 101 years who were taking part in the Swiss Vivre/Leben/Vivere study. As well as assessing frailty, we measured PSE and SRS during the 4 weeks preceding the administration of the questionnaires, together with the covariates age, sex, educational attainment, language of the canton, and type of canton (urban vs. rural). Regression analyses revealed higher levels of PSE in frail older adults than in non-frail older adults. In addition, frail older adults reported more SRS than non-frail older adults. As expected, the association between PSE and SRS differed as a function of the frailty status: The positive relation between PSE and SRS being stronger for frail older adults than for non-frail older adults. These results suggest that frailty is related to perceived discrepancy between resources and demands, and to ability to cope with PSE. Our findings have implications for interventions to help frail older adults manage stress.