title: Supportive exchange: an exploration of the relationship between social contacts and perceived health status in the elderly.
abstract: While social ties are known to bear an important relationship to health status among the elderly, the components of that association remain unclear. This study explored the hypothesis that 'supportive exchange', or the giving and seeking of advice and other forms of assistance, bears an important relationship to perceived health status. Six-hundred and seventy-eight elderly residents of Alameda County, CA, participated in this survey research study, which examined social ties, supportive exchange, and health status. A strong relationship was found between a key dimension of supportive exchange - the giving and seeking of advice - and self-reported health status. The association between advice seeking and health status was particularly high, demonstrating that advice seeking may be as strongly associated with health status as social ties. While it is important to develop refined indices for the measurement of other dimensions of supportive exchange, this exploratory study suggests that the concept may be a useful one in furthering research on the relationship between health status and social contacts among the elderly.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support