Household Disorder, Network Ties, and Social Support in Later Life
| Author | Erin York Cornwell |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12299 |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
E Y C Cornell University
Household Disorder, Network Ties, and
Social Support in Later Life
Family relationships, social interactions, and
exchanges of support often revolve around the
household context, but scholars rarely consider
the social relevance of this physical space. In
this article the author considers social causes
and consequences of household disorder in
the dwellings of older adults. Drawing from
research on neighborhood disorder and social
connectedness in later life, she describes how
network characteristics may contribute to
household disorder and how household disorder
may weaken relationships and reduce access to
support. This is explored empirically by estimat-
ing cross-lagged panel models with data from 2
waves of the National Social Life, Health, and
Aging Project. The results reveal that household
disorder reects a lack of social support, and it
leads to more kin-centered networks and more
strain within family relationships. The author
concludes by urging greater attention to how
the household context shapes—and is shaped
by—the social interactions and processes that
occur within it.
There’s no place like home. Most people spend
most of their time at home, making it a key con-
text for daily life. The household provides the
backdrop for some of the most long-standing and
meaningful relationships in individuals’ lives,
and it sets the stage for the enactment of key
Department of Sociology, Cornell University, 364 Uris
Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 (eyc46@cornell.edu).
Key Words: aging, family relations, housing, inequality,
interpersonal relationships, social support.
social roles such as spouse, parent, and child.
The household context can also be a busy hub
for social interaction, through which individ-
uals cultivate and maintain network ties, pool
resources, exchange support, and exercise infor-
mal control. Finally, the household context is a
critical foundation for social structure. Families
are formed and children are socialized in the
household, the labor force is reproduced, mate-
rial goods are consumed, and the division of
household labor reies gender power relations
(see, e.g., Becker, 1981; Hochschild, 1989).
Substantial bodies of research have examined
these household-centric social processes, but
most previous work lifts these phenomena from
the space in which they occur. The considera-
tion of physical features of housing is typically
limited to studies of housing inequality. Hous-
ing studies show that socioeconomic resources,
housing-related discrimination, and residential
segregation contribute to disparities in home-
ownership and household crowding (Flippen,
2001; E. Rosenbaum, 1996) and exposure to
housing-based hazards and toxins, which may
ultimately affect economic attainment, wealth,
and health (Conley, 2001; Krieger & Higgins,
2002). But characteristics of housing units may
also shape—and be shaped by—the social rela-
tionships and interactions that take root there.
I therefore advance a sociophysical con-
ceptualization of the household context, which
explores how a particular set of physical features
of the household environment are interrelated
with social networks and access to support
among older adults. Research on neighborhood
context suggests that neighborhood effects on
Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (August 2016): 871–889 871
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12299
872 Journal of Marriage and Family
health and well-being are particularly strong
in older age groups, in part because older
adults have greater exposure and vulnerabil-
ity to their residential environments (Robert
& Li, 2001). For the growing proportion of
community-residing older adults, the physically
more proximate environment of the household
can be a critical factor for coping with dis-
ablement, maintaining community residence,
participating in social activities, and promoting
overall health and well-being (Glass & Balfour,
2003; Lawton & Nahemow, 1973). However,
older adults’ long-term residences tend to
be older and less well equipped than those
of younger and middle-aged adults (Rowles,
Oswald, & Hunter, 2004), and declines in health
and function that accompany aging can diminish
the ability to address household-based hazards.
In this study I examined the presence of a
particular set of physical and ambient household
conditions in the dwellings of older adults,
including general household disrepair, clutter,
lack of cleanliness, odor, and noise. I refer to
this set of conditions as household disorder.
Building from social disorganization theory
and previous research on social connectedness
and support in later life, I developed hypothe-
ses about how household disorder may reect
and affect the availability of network-based
resources. I tested these hypotheses using data
from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Social
Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a
population-based study of community-residing
older adults. I found evidence consistent with
my theory in that older adults who have more
social support have less household disorder.
More important, I found that persons who have
more disordered households subsequently have
more kin-centered social networks and more
strained relationships with family members.
I conclude the article by discussing the rel-
evance of these ndings for a sociophysical
conceptualization of the household and for
policy-related efforts aimed at addressing health
disparities and promoting healthy aging.
T H S
C
Treating household conditions and social
processes as interrelated does not require
developing new theory as much as it involves
connecting previously disjointed concepts and
applying existing frameworks to the household
level. The tradition of ecological research dat-
ing back to the Chicago School viewed social
behavior and physical characteristics of the
urban environment as inextricably intertwined
(e.g., Park, Burgess, & McKenzie, 1925/1984).
Later research emphasized that features of
the built environment can promote or con-
strain community-level social interaction (e.g.,
Jacobs, 1961/1992). More recently, social dis-
organization theory suggests that features of
neighborhood disorder (e.g., broken windows,
abandoned buildings, litter, grafti) reect a
lack of neighborhood cohesion and informal
control (Sampson & Raudenbush, 1999). At the
same time, there is evidence that neighborhood
disorder erodes neighborhood-level social con-
nectedness, capital, and support (Krause, 1993;
Ross, Mirowsky, & Pribesh, 2002; Steenbeek &
Hipp, 2011) and reduces individuals’ abilities to
form and maintain personal network ties (York
Cornwell & Behler, 2015). My central argument
is that the interaction between physical features
and social factors that has been observed at
the neighborhood level also occurs within the
household context.
Housing and living conditions are already
recognized as intertwined with social struc-
ture, to the extent that status shapes residential
choices and conditions (Conley, 2001), but little
attention has been devoted to the relationship
between interior living conditions and social
connectedness. Most important for this article
is the possibility that physical household char-
acteristics shape individuals’ access to support
or social capital by facilitating or constraining
social relationships. At the same time, the con-
dition of living spaces may reect the adequacy
of personal, household, and network-based
resources for addressing housekeeping and
household maintenance. This interchange may
be particularly relevant for community-residing
older adults. In the section that follows, I narrow
my focus to consider the interrelations between
a particular set of interior living conditions and
social networks and support within the growing
population of older adults who are aging in their
communities.
Aging in Household Context
By 2040, nearly one-fth of the U.S. popula-
tion will be over age 65, and the vast majority
of these seniors will be aging in place, or resid-
ing independently in their long-term residences
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