Daily Contact and Mental Health among the Elderly Yang-chih Fu Academia Sinica, Taiwan Conference on “Chinese Healthy Aging and Socioeconomics: International Perspectives” August 20-21, 2004 Duke University

Physical fitness Social conditions: - socioeconomics: wealth, status, prestige - social network/ interpersonal contact Determinants of mental health

Personal networks of the elderly persons decrease due to: Friends of the same cohort passed away Having retired from work Overall fertility rate decreases, resulting in fewer family/relatives Physical disabilities

Gender difference Women may be generally more social than men, but more men work, a major source that helps expand personal networks. Status/achievements are important in men’s psychological well-being, while social contacts/relationships seem more critical to women.

Measuring networks of the elderly persons Add up separate items of social support or frequency of interaction from/with: adult children, friends, neighbors (nonkin) Name generator – core network

Alternative measures of personal networks Position generator (Nan Lin) – to reveal weak ties and accessibility to hierarchical resources Daily contact – various ties, strong or weak

On average, about how many people do you make contact with in a typical day (on the one-on-one basis, including all those who you say hello, chat, talk, or discuss matters with, whether you do it face- to-face, by telephone, by mail, or on the internet, and whether you personally know the person or not) ?

Please give your estimate and select one from the following categories that best matches your estimate. (1) 0-4 persons, (2) 5-9, (3) 10-19, (4) 20-49, (5) 50-99, (6) over 100.

Table 1 Distributions of the Single-item Measure: Range of Daily Contacts A. Taiwan ( ) B. Shianghai, Wuhan, Nanjin (1998), Hong Kong (2000)

Range of contacts Year of survey 1993 a a1999b2000a b 2000b2000c2001a2001b2002a2002b c Total Mean S.D Skewness N1,2042, ,9301,2201,2961,1661,1791,801

Range of contacts Total ShanghaiWuhanNanjing 3 cities Hong Kong Taiwan 97-02a Total Mean S.D Skewness N1, ,0111,02714,620

Table 2. Network Measures by the Range of Daily Contacts: Name Generator and Position Generator (Taiwan, 1997) Range of contacts Name generator a Position generator Total AffectiveInstru- mental Combine d Extensity/ Size High c LowRange N% Total/ Means ,

Data Shianghai, Wuhan, Nanjin 1998 (survey on urban communities) Hong Kong 2000 (Hong Kong Social Trend Survey) Taiwan (Taiwan Social Change Survey, Taiwan Social Trend Survey)

Summary of findings