Positive and negative social exchanges and disability in later life: An investigation of temporal relationships and trajectories of change

Both functional and structural aspects of one's social ties have been shown to influence the onset, progression, and course of disability in older adulthood. Conversely, changes in disability affect social network functioning. Nevertheless, the majority of past work examining the association between social exchanges and disability has not addressed the reciprocal, dynamic nature of the relationship between both positive and negative exchanges and disability over time. Furthermore, despite evidence of intraindividual variation in the developmental course of disability and social network functioning, few studies have taken different patterns or trajectories of change into account. The current study sought to address these issues by examining the associations among distinct developmental trajectories of positive and negative exchanges and physical disability over time. Four hundred and eighty-three community-dwelling older adults presenting with no disability at baseline were followed for two years. Three waves of data were analyzed, with each wave separated by a span of one year.; Results indicated the presence of multiple, distinct trajectory groups for positive and negative exchanges and disability. Latent class analyses of dual membership in trajectory groups across variables showed that (a) membership in the "chronically high positive exchange" group predicted membership in a group with chronically low disability, (b) experiencing increasing disability over time predicted both increases in positive exchanges and chronically low positive exchanges, and (c) chronically low levels of disability predicted chronically high positive exchanges. With respect to negative exchanges, (a) all participants with chronically high negative exchanges demonstrated disability remission, (b) membership in "chronically low" and "moderate" negative exchange groups predicted both chronically low disability and disability remission, (c) members of the "chronically low disability" group were most likely to have no negative exchanges, and (d) a pattern of increasing disability predicted both the complete absence and moderate levels of negative exchanges. Baseline frequency of positive and negative exchanges, satisfaction with support, and depressive symptomatology also increased the odds of belonging to the "increaser disability" group. Finally, there was a significant positive exchange by satisfaction interaction, and positive exchanges were found to buffer the detrimental effects of negative exchanges on disability.