Characteristics of social networks of elderly people in Portugal

This study describes the personal social networks of the elderly in Portugal, in their structural, functional and relational-contextual characteristics. 612 elderly people aged 65+ (M=76, SD=7.6) participated, mostly women (63%), with offspring (88.2%) and not living alone (78.8%). Structurally, networks have a medium size for this population (M=7.9), are centered in family relations and have high leves of cohesiveness. They are composed mainly of family ties (76%), followed by friendship ties (13%) and neighborhood ties (8%). Functionally they are perceived as supportative and reciprocal, with family ties associated to higher levels of emotional, tangible and informative support (p<0.01). Regarding relational-contextual variables, they are temporally stable and heterogeneous in gender and age. They are also characterized by multiple contacts per week and geographic proximity with network members. Extrafamilial members live closer to the focal person and engage in more frequent contacts (p<0.01, p<0.05). The profile definition of personal social networks has epidemiological interest for professionals, key actors and stakeholders that are involved, organizationally and politically, in elderly directed interventions, mainly to understand the conditions of social provision of informal networks and to equate the promotion of individual and social well-being in this population.