title: Confidant Availability (In)Stability and Emotional Well-Being in Older Men and Women.
abstract: The present study examined the role of stability and change in the availability of a family member and a friend as a confidant in older adults' emotional well-being.
  
  
  
  Participants in two waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 4,631; M = 64.3, 53.7% female) were assessed on depressive symptoms and the availability of a family member and friend as confidant. Using mixed linear effects models, four groups were compared over time and across gender on depressive symptoms: those with and without a family/friend confidant at both waves and those who lost and gained a family/friend confidant.
  
  
  
  Those with stable availability of a family or friend confidant consistently scored the lowest on depressive symptoms; the gain of a family or friend confidant corresponded with a decrease in depressive symptoms, with a larger effect seen for the gain of a family confidant; the loss of a family confidant was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms over time; and stable availability of a family or friend confidant was more strongly linked to lower levels of depressive symptoms among women, whereas stable unavailability of a family confidant was linked to higher levels of depressive symptoms.
  
  
  
  Stable availability of either a family or friend confidant in late life is especially salient to emotional well-being, notably among women. Emotional well-being benefits from the gain of a confidant highlight the importance of supplementing or substituting a loss, especially of a family confidant, which is associated with a significant increase in depressive symptoms.
authors: Department of Psychology, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania.
authors: Jamila
authors: J
authors: Bookwala
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D012944:Social Support; D014922:Wisconsin
keywords: Confidants; Depressive symptoms; Family; Friends; Gender differences