Social Network Characteristics and Their Associations With Stress in Older Adults: Closure and Balance in a Population-Based Sample

OBJECTIVES: Integration into social networks reduces stress during adverse life-events and improves coping with disability in late life. The aim is to investigate whether social network closure (frequent contact among ties) and balance (positive contact among ties) are associated with perceived stress. We expect lowest stress for older adults with highly closed and balanced networks. METHOD: Panel data on self-reported egocentric networks stem from the population-based Chicago Health Aging and Social Relations Study (CHASRS). Five waves were collected between 2002 and 2006, with 708 observations from 160 participants aged 50-68 years at baseline. Data include information on the participants' social relationships, i.e., interaction frequency and relationship quality, for ego-alter ties and alter-alter ties, and participants' perceived stress. The analytical strategy employed fixed- and random-effects models. RESULTS: Participants reporting the highest number of balanced relationships (positive ties among alters) experience least stress. This effect holds independently of socio-demographic confounders, loneliness and network size.