Tag: social networks

Middle aged couple walk their dogs

Social networks dwindle naturally over the years as spouses die and friends lose touch. Nearly half of 75-year-olds are widowed or single. Disabilities like diminished hearing or a bum knee also interfere with an older person’s ability to socialize. But maintaining a robust network is crucial, because a substantial body of research shows that retirees…

Navajo man sitting on the bed of his pick-up truck in Monument Valley

Abstract This paper examines the impact of work and retirement on the size, density, and composition of older Americans’ social networks. It uses novel panel data from the first two waves of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Critical components of the analysis include the development of an instrumental variable fixed-effect estimation strategy based…