A Study to Analyses the Effect of Alterations in Social Ties Among Older Persons Regarding Their Physical Functioning

Abstract

It's common to associate an ageing population with negative ideas like the need for additional medical care. This is especially true of the very elderly. However, the ramifications are more extensive and have an impact on family care in the future as well as concerns with intergenerational interactions, jobs, housing arrangements, and mind-sets. The purpose of this study is to determine if various forms of social support and attachments can lessen the detrimental impacts of changes to physical functioning. Analyses of logistic regression with adjustments for baseline functioning, age, gender, and change frequency were performed on data from two cycles of the Longitudinal Aging Study to determine the impact of various social relationships for subgroups with various numbers of chronic diseases. The presence of various social ties was indicated by the number of daughters, boys, and other family members as well as non-family relationships, partner status, and other demographic data. In terms of social support, loneliness was experienced as well as practical and emotional help. On a 6-item self-report measure, a significant change after 3 years indicated a decline in physical functioning. Therefore, the presence of a spouse protected against a decline in physical functioning in people with no baseline alterations. In older adults who were disease-free, total network size had a negative impact, but in those who had illnesses, it had a favourable impact, mostly because of the positive effects of the number of daughters and non-kin relationships. Consequently, the findings show that older people's physical functioning declines, with or without any changes, depending on the sorts of social ties they have and the assistance they offer.