Stability and Changes in Social Network Profiles After Widowhood and Their Implications for Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults in South Korea

Abstract

Following the loss of a spouse, older adults often experience changes in their social networks across various dimensions, which may affect their mental health. Guided by continuity, disengagement, and activity theories, which posit diverse trajectories of social network adaptation to spousal loss, this study adopted a typological approach to investigate the stability and change in social network profiles before and after widowhood and their associations with depressive symptoms among older adults. This person-centered approach reconceptualizes how social networks evolve in later life, moving beyond single indicators to capture the multidimensionality and heterogeneity of older adults’ social worlds as they navigate significant life transitions within their specific socio-spatial contexts. This study analyzed data from 727 older adults who were married at Time 1, experienced widowhood at Time 2, and responded to questions on depressive symptoms at Time 3 in three consecutive waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. A latent transition analysis identified five distinct social network profiles—“diverse,” “child-focused,” “restricted,” “coresident, diverse,” and “coresident, restricted”—before and after widowhood, along with their transition patterns. Multivariable regression, controlling for baseline depressive symptoms, showed that older adults who (1) transitioned from the diverse to child-focused profile, (2) transitioned from the diverse to coresident, diverse profile, or (3) maintained the coresident, restricted profile were more likely to report higher levels of depressive symptoms after widowhood than those who maintained the diverse profile. These findings highlight the complexity and dynamics of social networks and intergenerational coresidence among older Koreans following widowhood, calling for interventions to promote diverse social networks among widowed older adults. Ultimately, this study resonates with recent scholarship calling for a shift from a focus on “aging in place” toward “aging in networks,” emphasizing that healthy aging depends on social embeddedness across various spatial and relational contexts.