Social capital and aging-related outcomes

Abstract

Like other demographic characteristics, age introduces complexity into theoretical and empirical investigations of the relationship between social capital and health. Unlike its demographic counterparts, however, age is not fixed. Age and cohort differences in the reliance on social capital and perceptions of it indicate that models of the social capital-health relationship must be attentive to age. Arguably, no age group relies as much as older people do on the capacity of social connections or community resources to maintain health and community residence (Cannuscio, Block, & Kawachi, 2003). The social capital aspects of the lives of older adults, however, have not enjoyed the same attention as earlier stages of the life course (Sampson, Morenoff, & Earls, 1999; Settersten, 2005). © 2008 Springer New York.