Table 3.
Distribution of Aspects of Confidant Network Change by Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status (N = 1,551)a
| Lost any confidant(s) for following reasonb | Race/ethnicity | Highest level of education | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | African American | Latino | Other | χ2 | ≤HS | Some college | College | χ2 | |
| R or confidant moved/now too “distant” | 31.5 | 36.9 | 57.5 | 51.7 | 19.67* | 31.4 | 32.7 | 36.7 | 6.21 |
| The confidant died | 30.6 | 34.9 | 14.4 | 12.2 | 35.59*** | 31.4 | 31.0 | 25.0 | 10.59 |
| They “drifted apart”/circumstances changed | 23.5 | 20.7 | 19.5 | 20.3 | 2.83 | 20.5 | 24.3 | 25.6 | 8.15 |
| R or confidant suffers from health problems | 12.4 | 10.8 | 6.4 | 19.4 | 9.87 | 12.8 | 12.7 | 10.1 | 3.68 |
| There was a falling out/disagreement/conflict | 7.9 | 10.6 | 4.1 | 2.1 | 10.05 | 6.4 | 8.4 | 9.5 | 6.98 |
| R or confidant retired or changed jobs | 6.1 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 3.9 | 12.49 | 1.7 | 7.0 | 10.2 | 71.59*** |
Notes. HS = high school; R = respondent.
aEstimates are weighted using National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project W1 person-weights and adjusted using propensity score weighting. Significance of group differences as indicated by chi-square statistics is determined using a design-corrected F-test.
bCategorization based on assessments of two independent coders (80.1% agreement). Estimates ignore those who had any trouble with the roster matching exercise or who had missing data on any alter. "Lost" confidants do not include those appearing in Roster B or C at W2.
*p < .05. ***p < .001.