SOCIAL SUPPORT, SOCIAL STRESS AND HEALTH AMONG SLIGHTLY DISABLED ELDERLY

The paper examines the influence of social networks on social support and social stress and analyses the impact of social support and stress on health. 171 (t1, 1992) and 135 (t2, 1993) persons aged 75 and olde r in need of a little help but still living on their own were personal ly interviewed in three districts of the city of Zurich. The results d emonstrate that social networks are important for mobilizing social su pport and that these mobilizing processes are characterized by sex dif ferences: The family (i.e. the partner) is much more important for men than for women who rely both on family and non-family social networks . There are only weak relationships between social networks and social stress. Social support affects health positively by indirect mechanis ms. From t1 to t2 social networks, social support and health remain ra ther constant while social stress changes substantially.