Relationships in late life from a personal communities approach: perspectives of older people in Chile

Although the literature on social capital, social support and social networks uses the concept of emotional support, studies rarely recognise nuances of the emotional relationships in late life. Using a personal communities framework, we examine the subjective meaning of family and friendship ties t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ageing and society 2022-05, Vol.42 (5), p.1138-1158
Main Authors: Torrejon, Maria-Jose, Martin-Matthews, Anne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Armed forces
Classification
Closeness
Community
Cultural change
Diagrams
Emotional support
Emotions
Interviews
Military regimes
Older people
Personal relationships
Social capital
Social networks
Social support
Sociocultural factors
Typology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although the literature on social capital, social support and social networks uses the concept of emotional support, studies rarely recognise nuances of the emotional relationships in late life. Using a personal communities framework, we examine the subjective meaning of family and friendship ties that form the network of emotionally close relationships of a cohort of Chilean people between 60 and 74 years of age. Chile is an interesting case to investigate personal communities, as the country is facing both a rapid process of population ageing and the consequences of abrupt socio-cultural changes triggered by a military government. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews using personal communities diagrams that enabled study participants to reflect on what and how different types of personal ties were important to them. Data analysis included thematic analysis of interview transcripts and classification of identified personal communities using Pahl and Spencer's typology. The personal communities framework proved useful in capturing the composition of older people's networks of close relationships and in reflecting the diverse ways different ties are relevant in late life. We further developed a complementary typology based on the distinction between ‘clustered’ and ‘hierarchical’ personal communities. This complementary typology adds a cultural dimension to understand better emotional closeness in late life in a context of rapid socio-cultural changes affecting levels of social trust.
ISSN:0144-686X
1469-1779
DOI:10.1017/S0144686X20001385