Social ties and perceived support: two dimensions of social relationships and health among the elderly in Taiwan.
OBJECTIVE
Assess the effects of social relationships on physical and mental health among the elderly in Taiwan.


METHODS
Using 4 waves of a survey of the elderly, we examine the relationship between social ties and perceived support and four health outcomes--mortality, functional status, self-assessed health, and depression.


RESULTS
Perceived support and social ties are related to health, but many of the apparent effects are attenuated in the presence of controls for prior health. However, positive perceptions about support are protective of mental (but not physical) health.


CONCLUSIONS
If baseline health is ignored, estimates of the effects of social relationships on health at a given stage of life are likely to be inflated by reverse causality or by effects occurring prior to baseline. Inclusion of controls for initial health reveals that, in general, the relationship between social support and health at the older ages in Taiwan is relatively modest.
Cornman
Jennifer C
JC
Polisher Research Institute, Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life, North Wales, PA, USA.
Goldman
Noreen
N
Glei
Dana A
DA
Weinstein
Maxine
M
Chang
Ming-Cheng
MC
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged / Q000523:psychology; D009026:Mortality; D012944:Social Support; D013624:Taiwan