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Well-being of elderly people living in nursing homes: The benefits of making friends

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  • François-Charles Wolff

    (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes, INED - Institut national d'études démographiques)

Abstract

Using French data collected in 2007 from a sample of about 2,000 elderly people living in nursing homes, this paper investigates the role that individual characteristics play in satisfaction with life and depression. Following psychological studies that have highlighted the benefits of social interactions on individual well-being, I focus in particular on the role played by making friends in the nursing home. Results from random effect ordered Probit models show that both satisfaction with living conditions and feeling of depression are much more influenced by making friends in the institution than by visits from family and relatives or other individual background characteristics. These findings may be interpreted as evidence of a relational return to friendship within nursing homes.

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  • François-Charles Wolff, 2012. "Well-being of elderly people living in nursing homes: The benefits of making friends," Working Papers hal-00759187, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00759187
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00759187
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lionel Prouteau & François‐Charles Wolff, 2004. "Relational Goods and Associational Participation," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 431-463, September.
    2. Das, Marcel & van Soest, Arthur, 1999. "A panel data model for subjective information on household income growth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 409-426, December.
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    7. Giacomo Degli Antoni, 2009. "Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivations to Volunteer and Social Capital Formation," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 359-370, August.
    8. Asakawa, Keiko & Feeny, David & Senthilselvan, Ambikaipakan & Johnson, Jeffrey A. & Rolfson, Darryl, 2009. "Do the determinants of health differ between people living in the community and in institutions?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 345-353, August.
    9. Musick, Marc A. & Wilson, John, 2003. "Volunteering and depression: the role of psychological and social resources in different age groups," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 259-269, January.
    10. Christel Borg & Ingalill R Hallberg & Kerstin Blomqvist, 2006. "Life satisfaction among older people (65+) with reduced self‐care capacity: the relationship to social, health and financial aspects," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(5), pages 607-618, May.
    11. Serge-Christophe Kolm, 2000. "Introduction: The Economics of Reciprocity, Giving and Altruism," International Economic Association Series, in: L.-A. Gérard-Varet & S.-C. Kolm & J. Mercier Ythier (ed.), The Economics of Reciprocity, Giving and Altruism, chapter 1, pages 1-44, Palgrave Macmillan.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sónia Guadalupe & Henrique Testa Vicente, 2022. "Types of Personal Social Networks of Older Adults in Portugal," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 445-466, April.
    2. Tindara Addabbo & Elena Sarti & Dario Sciulli, 2016. "Healthy life, social interaction and disability," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 2609-2623, November.

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    Keywords

    friends; institutionalized elderly; living conditions; nursing home; relational goods;
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