Table 1.
Descriptions, Weighted Means, and Standard Deviations of Key Variables (N = 2,119)a
| Variable | Description | Proportion or mean | SD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | R's age at baseline (in years, divided by 10). Range: 5.7–8.5 | 6.800 | 0.760 |
| Female | Whether R is female | 0.516 | 0.500 |
| Race/ethnicity | Whether R is non-Hispanic white | 0.804 | 0.397 |
| Whether R is non-Hispanic African American | 0.099 | 0.299 | |
| Whether R is Latino | 0.070 | 0.256 | |
| Whether R is some other race | 0.026 | 0.160 | |
| Education (W1) | R's had high school education or less | 0.455 | 0.498 |
| R has some college, but no degree | 0.299 | 0.458 | |
| R has a college or professional degree (ref.) | 0.247 | 0.431 | |
| Working (ref.) | Whether R was working at both waves | 0.174 | 0.379 |
| Retired | Whether R was retired at both waves | 0.471 | 0.499 |
| Other not working | Whether R was not working for other reasons at both waves | 0.144 | 0.351 |
| Became retired | Whether R became retired between W1 and W2 | 0.151 | 0.359 |
| Stopped working | Whether R stopped working between W1 and W2 for other reasons | 0.025 | 0.155 |
| Started working | Whether R started working between W1 and W2 | 0.035 | 0.185 |
| Married (ref.) | Whether R was married at both waves | 0.576 | 0.494 |
| Widowed | Whether R was a widow(er) at both waves | 0.162 | 0.368 |
| Unmarried | Whether R was not married at either wave for other reasons | 0.163 | 0.369 |
| Became widowed | Whether R was widowed between W1 and W2 | 0.070 | 0.255 |
| Became unmarried | Whether R became separated/divorced between W1 and W2 | 0.015 | 0.123 |
| Got married | Whether R got married between W1 and W2 | 0.013 | 0.115 |
| Functional impairment (W2) | R's self-rated ability to complete each of seven activities of daily living on their own at W1. Responses range from "unable to do" (=1) to "no difficulty" (=4) (α = .841). Items are averaged together. Range: −4.790 to 0.390 | 0.050 | 0.675 |
| Self-rated health (W2) | R's self-rated overall health, ranging from "poor" (=1) to excellent (=5) | 3.265 | 1.104 |
| Depressive symptoms (W2) | Average of R's standardized responses to 10 ordinal items from the CES-D scale assessing depressive symptoms. Responses range from "rarely or none of the time" (=0) to "most of the time" (=3). Items are averaged together. Range: −0.602 to 2.832 | −0.017 | 0.564 |
| W1 network size | Number of confidants at W1. Range: 1–5 | 3.587 | 1.392 |
| Δ in network size | Network size at W2 minus network size at W1. Range: −5 to 4 | 0.187 | 1.576 |
| Lost for any reason | Number of confidants lost between W1 and W2 | 1.486 | 1.252 |
| Lost (but not died) | Number of confidants lost between W1 and W2 (not including deaths) | 1.230 | 1.150 |
| Confidants died | Number of confidants who died between W1 and W2 | 0.256 | 0.529 |
| Confidants added | Number of new confidants added between W1 and W2 | 1.897 | 1.369 |
Notes. CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale; R = respondent.
aEstimates are weighted using National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project W1 person-weights (adjusted for attrition and selection at W2). Estimates are calculated for all respondents who have nonmissing data for key variables in the final models for all outcome variables.