Table 1.
Differences in demographic and health characteristics between functional and structural measures of social relationships
| All participants (n=338) |
Structural support | P value | Functional support | P value | |||
| Socially connected (n=266) |
Socially isolated (n=72) |
Infrequent support (n=189) |
Frequent support (n=149) |
||||
| Age (years), n (%) | 0.54 | 0.15 | |||||
| 60–64 | 150 (44.5) | 119 (44.9) | 31 (43.1) | 93 (49.2) | 57 (38.5) | ||
| 65–69 | 82 (24.3) | 67 (25.3) | 15 (20.8) | 42 (22.2) | 40 (27.0) | ||
| 70+ | 105 (31.2) | 79 (29.8) | 26 (36.1) | 54 (28.6) | 51 (34.5) | ||
| Sex, female, n (%) | 284 (84.0) | 223 (83.8) | 61 (84.7) | 0.86 | 150 (79.4) | 134 (89.9) | 0.008 |
| Race, % | 0.001 | <0.001 | |||||
| Non-Hispanic black | 111 (32.8) | 90 (33.8) | 21 (29.2) | 59 (31.2) | 52 (34.9) | ||
| Non-Hispanic white | 81 (24.0) | 74 (27.8) | 7 (9.7) | 69 (36.5) | 12 (8.1) | ||
| Hispanic | 130 (38.5) | 91 (34.2) | 39 (54.2) | 52 (27.5) | 78 (52.3) | ||
| Other | 16 (4.7) | 11 (4.1) | 5 (6.9) | 9 (4.8) | 7 (4.7) | ||
| Education, n (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||||
| Less than high school | 112 (33.1) | 75 (28.2) | 37 (51. 4) | 44 (23.3) | 68 (45.6) | ||
| High school graduate | 57 (16.9) | 41 (15.4) | 16 (22.2) | 25 (13.2) | 32 (21.5) | ||
| Some college | 70 (20.7) | 64 (24.1) | 6 (8.3) | 45 (23.8) | 25 (16.8) | ||
| College graduate | 99 (29.3) | 86 (32.3) | 13 (18.1) | 75 (39.7) | 24 (16.1) | ||
| Monthly income (US$), n (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||||
| ≤1350 | 173 (52.4) | 121 (46.5) | 52 (74.3) | 74 (39.8) | 99 (68.7) | ||
| 1351–3000 | 80 (24.3) | 69 (26.5) | 11 (15.7) | 56 (30.1) | 24 (16.7) | ||
| ≥3001 | 77 (23.3) | 70 (27.0) | 7 (10.0) | 56 (30.1) | 21 (14.6) | ||
| Health literacy, n (%) | 0.001 | <0.001 | |||||
| Limited | 108 (31.4) | 75 (28.7) | 33 (50.0) | 43 (22.8) | 65 (47.1) | ||
| Adequate | 219 (68.6) | 186 (71.3) | 33 (50.0) | 146 (77.2) | 73 (52.9) | ||
| Married, n (%) | 105 (31.1) | 91 (34.2) | 14 (19.4) | 0.02 | 61 (32.3) | 44 (29.5) | 0.59 |
| ADL limitation, n (%) | 0.03 | <0.001 | |||||
| 0 | 237 (70.3) | 194 (73.2) | 43 (59.7) | 154 (81.9) | 83 (55.7) | ||
| ≥1 | 100 (29.7) | 71 (26.8) | 29 (40.3) | 34 (18.1) | 66 (44.3) | ||
| # Chronic conditions, mean (SD) | 3.8 (1.6) | 3.6 (1.5) | 4.8 (1.6) | <0.001 | 3.4 (1.4) | 4.4 (1.4) | <0.001 |
| Poor health status, n (%) | 180 (46.6) | 110 (41.5) | 47 (62.3) | <0.001 | 58 (30.9) | 99 (66.4) | <0.001 |
| BMQ: necessity, mean (SD) | 12.9 (4.6) | 13.0 (4.5) | 12.7 (4.4) | 0.66 | 13.2 (4.7) | 12.5 (4.2) | 0.24 |
| BMQ: concerns, mean (SD) | 16.1 (4.4) | 16.6 (4.2) | 16.0 (4.6) | 0.25 | 17.3 (4.2) | 15.5 (4.2) | <0.001 |
ADL, activities of daily living; BMQ, Beliefs about Medications Questionnaire.