The Influence Of Social Network On Later Life

There is evidence linking social network involvement to health and well-being across one’s life span (Rook, 2015). In this article, Rook (2015) addresses the positive and negative social network exchanges and how both are necessary to better understand how social networks influence health and well-being. More specifically, Rook (2015) explores the different research studies performed to examine the health related impact of positive and negative exchanges in social network involvement focusing on later life. The focus is on later life, because this is when individuals are at an increased risk for deteriorating health and loss of social relationships. Rook (2015) begins by identifying the three categories in both positive and negative interactions. A type of positive interaction is social support, which may be involving with improving harmful influences of life stresses. The other two main positive interactions are companionship and control. Companionship enhances one’s perception of their self-worth and helps protect one’s s health from health-damaging behavior. Control, on the other hand, engages members to control their own health behavior. To counter the positive exchanges, the three negative interactions include support failure, rejection, and misdirected control. Support failure arises when there is a …show more content…
More specific, Rook (2015) identifies a study that has found that more frequent negative exchanges are linked to worse cortisol regulation, which is a physiological response to stress that increases vulnerability to diseases. There are other studies that have also suggested that chronic negative interactions can interrupt the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune functioning systems. Therefore, highlighting the idea that persistent negative exchange greatly influences older adults’