Activity, social network and well-being: An empirical examination

A study of older adults in Israel (n = 170) examined the relationship of ac tivity level and social network characteristics to respondents' subjective well-being, controlling for background socio-demographic characteristics an d extent of physical disability. Factor analysis derived three activity fac tors corresponding to formal, informal and solitary activity. A hierarchica l regression procedure revealed that physical disability accounted for 40 p er cent of the variance in the well-being measure. Extent of informal activ ity explained another 3 per cent of the variance, but was outweighed in the final model by the addition of a social network factor degree of network s upportiveness (R-2 = .48). The findings suggest that it is the social netwo rk aspect of activity that makes a difference in older persons' subjective well-being, rather than the effect of activity per se.