Why is the composition of older adults’ care network associated with psychological wellbeing: an application of the self-determination theory

Figures & data

Table 1. Description of study variables, the aggregated average from the ten observations between 1992 and 2022, for the different network types and the total sample (N = 18,434 observations from 4,837 respondents).

Care network type	No care	Partner	Informal	Formal	Private	Total	Post-hoc tests
Average ten observations	59%	10%	6.3%	11%	13%	100%
Number of respondents	1067.20	216.30	118.20	199.90	241.80	1843.40
Depressive symptoms (0-30)	6.65	8.19	9.80	12.56	8.18	7.76	^a^,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i
Less loneliness (0-11)	9.28	9.47	8.81	7.62	8.91	9.05	^b^,c,d,e,f,h,i,j
Mastery (5-25)	18.17	17.27	16.61	15.73	17.76	17.70	^a^,b,c,e,f,g,h,i
Sufficient care	95%	89%	86%	73%	89%	91%	^a^,b,c,d,f,g,i
Physical functioning (6-30)	28.68	25.89	24.83	21.93	27.41	27.37	^a^,b,c,f,g,h,i,j
Cognitive functioning (0-30)	27.87	27.51	26.78	26.38	28.05	27.63	^b^,c,e,f,h,i
Number of chronic diseases	1.07	1.40	1.62	1.94	1.27	1.25	^b^,c,f,h,i
Age	69.13	69.89	77.32	80.08	73.53	71.45	^b^,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j
Female	49%	57%	65%	65%	61%	53%	^b^,c
Education (years)	10.21	9.76	8.72	8.83	11.92	10.19	^b^,c,d,h,i,j
Partner in household	73%	100%	29%	32%	54%	66%	^a^,b,c,d,e,f,,h,i,j
Total observations
Percentage of respondents	58%	12%	6.4%	11%	13%	100%
Personal care	–	3%	0%	1%	0%
Household care	–	91%	96%	77%	99%
Personal and household care	–	6%	3%	22%	0%

Post-hoc tests p < 0.05.

^a No care versus partner.

^b No care versus informal.

^c No care versus formal.

^d No care versus private.

^e Partner care versus informal care.

^f Partner care versus formal care.

^g Informal versus formal care.

^h Informal versus private.

ⁱ Formal versus private care.

^j Partner care versus private care.

Note: For more detail per measurement moment, see supplementary material, Table SI.

Table 2. Mixed-model analysis on the role of loneliness (Model 3), mastery (Model 4) and sufficient care (Model 5) in the associations of the different network types on the number of depressive symptoms (N = 18,434 observations from 4,837 respondents). Between (BP) and within person (WP) effects.

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6
	BP	BP	BP	BP	BP	BP
No care^a	−6.53***	−2.71***	−1.78***	−2.16***	−1.48***	−1.14**
	(0.35)	(0.39)	(0.34)	(0.34)	(0.39)	(0.32)
Partner care network^a	−5.77***	−3.24***	−1.15**	−3.17***	−2.28***	−1.40***
	(0.45)	(0.45)	(0.40)	(0.38)	(0.44)	(0.36)
Informal care network^a	−3.27***	−2.12**	−0.79	−2.25***	−1.09*	−0.90*
	(0.53)	(0.50)	(0.44)	(0.43)	(0.49)	(0.4)
Privately paid care network^a	−4.92***	−1.68**	−0.92*	−1.24**	−0.76	−0.45
	(0.45)	(0.45)	(0.4)	(0.39)	(0.45)	(0.36)
Physical functioning (6-30)		−0.34***	−0.27***	−0.23***	−0.28***	−0.18***
		(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Cognitive functioning (0-30)		−0.28***	−0.10**	−0.16***	−0.27***	−0.09*
		(0.04)	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.04)	(0.03)
Number of chronic diseases		1.08***	0.92***	0.72***	0.95***	0.64***
		(0.09)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.09)	(0.08)
Age		−0.10***	−0.11***	−0.12***	−0.09***	−0.11***
		(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)
Female		1.63***	1.69***	1.22***	1.51***	1.32***
		(0.18)	(0.15)	(0.15)	(0.17)	(0.14)
Education (years)		−0.03	−0.03	0.03	−0.04	0.01
		(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.02)
Year		−0.02	0.00	0.01	−0.03*	0.02
		(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)
Less loneliness (0-11)			−1.29***			−0.84***
			(0.03)			(0.03)
Mastery (5-25)				−1.11***		−0.83***
				(0.03)		(0.03)
Sufficient care (yes)					−6.36***	−2.80***
					(0.40)	(0.33)
Constant	13.36***	33.05***	38.15***	46.51***	35.34***	47.47***
R-squared	0.07	0.20	0.39	0.42	0.24	0.51

Table

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6
	WP	WP	WP	WP	WP	WP
No care^a	−3.34***	−1.45***	−1.05***	−1.19***	−1.36***	−0.82***
	(0.18)	(0.19)	(0.19)	(0.19)	(0.19)	(0.18)
Partner care network^a	−3.19***	−1.16***	−0.68**	−0.89***	−1.10***	−0.47*
	(0.21)	(0.23)	(0.22)	(0.22)	(0.23)	(0.22)
Informal care network^a	−1.65***	−0.50*	−0.30	−0.39	−0.49*	−0.22
	(0.25)	(0.25)	(0.24)	(0.24)	(0.25)	(0.23)
Privately paid care network^a	−2.04***	−0.55*	−0.30	−0.39	−0.50*	−0.17
	(0.22)	(0.23)	(0.22)	(0.22)	(0.22)	(0.21)
Physical functioning (6-30)		−0.30***	−0.27***	−0.25***	−0.28***	−0.22***
		(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Cognitive functioning (0-30)		−0.13***	−0.11***	−0.10***	−0.13**	−0.09***
		(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.02)
Number of chronic diseases		0.24***	0.27***	0.22***	0.22**	0.24***
		(0.07)	(0.07)	(0.07)	(0.07)	(0.06)
Age		7.18	4.89	7.45	7.01	5.32
		(4.70)	(4.55)	(4.56)	(4.69)	(4.43)
Year		−7.14	−4.87	−7.43	−6.98	−5.33
		(4.70)	(4.55)	(4.56)	(4.68)	(4.43)
Less loneliness (0-11)			−0.79***			−0.68***
			(0.03)			(0.03)
Mastery (5-25)				−0.53***		−0.46***
				(0.02)		(0.02)
Sufficient care (yes)					−1.60***	−1.12***
					(0.16)	(0.15)
Constant	10.52***	−391.07	−254.25	−398.85	−380.62	−272.69
R-squared	0.03	0.07	0.13	0.13	0.08	0.17

^a Formal care network is reference.

Standard errors in parentheses.

*** p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.

Data availability statement

For the purpose of replication, data supporting the findings of this study are available upon reasoned request at https://lasa-vu.nl/en/request-data/.