In the following, we report an exploratory study that
investigates social network types in a large sample of Chinese
older persons. Because our primary aim is to examine
the supportive functions of distant kin in addition to
those provided by immediate kin and non-kin, we recruited
a sample in which unmarried individuals were
overrepresented, with roughly equal numbers of married,
divorced/separated, widowed, and never married participants.
Marital status is a situational characteristic that
is expected to lead to different affi liation patterns with
immediate kin, distant kin, and non-kin ( Antonucci &
Akiyama, 1995 ; Kahn & Antonucci, 1980 ), and hence, a
sample with suffi cient variations in marital status is necessary
to reveal the diversity of support patterns in any particular
culture.
We expect to fi nd new network types that are characterized
by high support exchange with distant kin, whether in
the context of high support exchange with immediate kin or
in its relative absence. In the latter case, we expect that individuals
without an immediate family (i.e., never married)
and those whose immediate families are compromised (i.e.,
divorced or widowed) are most likely to report networks
characterized by a supportive distant kinship and to place
distant kin in their inner circles. We also expect that the
well-being advantage of friend over family networks that
has been consistently reported for Western samples will not
be found in the Hong Kong Chinese because of the traditional
reliance on the family and kinship for the fulfi llment
of needs and because seeking support from friends is not
necessarily functional due to the norms of reciprocity and
social harmony.
Methods
Participants