Social Network Characteristics and Their Associations With Stress in Older Adults: Closure and Balance in a Population-Based Sample

Objectives Integration into social networks reduces stress during adverse life events and improves coping with disability in late life. The aim was to investigate whether social network closure (frequent contact among ties) and balance (positive contact among ties) are associated with perceived stress. We expect lowest stress for older adults with highly closed and balanced networks. Method Panel data on self-reported egocentric networks stem...