Senior researcher Healthcare System and Governance
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Selection in the social network: effects of chronic diseases.
Tijhuis, M.A.R., Flap, H.D., Foets, M., Groenewegen, P.P. Selection in the social network: effects of chronic diseases. European Journal of Public Health: 1998, 8(4), 286-293
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Background: this article deals with the consequences of disease for someone's personal social network. It is hypothesized that the duration of a socially severe disease will affect the social network in such a way that the proportions of women, kin, long-standing relationships and people living nearby are higher for people suffering from a disease longer. Contacts with colleagues will decline. Methods: these hypotheses were tested on the data of a representative sample of the Dutch, gathered by means of a health interview (N=10, 110). The presence and duration of diseases were measured by a checklist of 23 chronic diseases. The social severity of a disease was determined by its visibility, threat to others and functional disablement. The network characteristics in this study were church membership, membership of voluntary organizations, number of close friends, number of supportgivers, proportions of kin, women, colleagues, long-standing relationships and people living nearby. Gender, education, life-cycle stage and work status were taken into account in all analyses. Results: logistic and linear regression analyses showed that the duration of a disease, whatever the degree of social severity, does not affect the network strongly. People suffering longer from socially severe chronic diseases reported fewer friends and supportgivers. People suffering longer from moderately severe chronic diseases reported fewer supportgivers for health-related support. The results on socially mild chronic diseases were not in line with the expectations: people who are ill longer reported more friends and fewer women in their network. Conclusion: we conclude that in a general population the duration of diseases hardly has any effort on social network characteristics. (aut.ref.)
Background: this article deals with the consequences of disease for someone's personal social network. It is hypothesized that the duration of a socially severe disease will affect the social network in such a way that the proportions of women, kin, long-standing relationships and people living nearby are higher for people suffering from a disease longer. Contacts with colleagues will decline. Methods: these hypotheses were tested on the data of a representative sample of the Dutch, gathered by means of a health interview (N=10, 110). The presence and duration of diseases were measured by a checklist of 23 chronic diseases. The social severity of a disease was determined by its visibility, threat to others and functional disablement. The network characteristics in this study were church membership, membership of voluntary organizations, number of close friends, number of supportgivers, proportions of kin, women, colleagues, long-standing relationships and people living nearby. Gender, education, life-cycle stage and work status were taken into account in all analyses. Results: logistic and linear regression analyses showed that the duration of a disease, whatever the degree of social severity, does not affect the network strongly. People suffering longer from socially severe chronic diseases reported fewer friends and supportgivers. People suffering longer from moderately severe chronic diseases reported fewer supportgivers for health-related support. The results on socially mild chronic diseases were not in line with the expectations: people who are ill longer reported more friends and fewer women in their network. Conclusion: we conclude that in a general population the duration of diseases hardly has any effort on social network characteristics. (aut.ref.)