Social Ties and Life Satisfaction of Older Persons:

Social ties, including family relationships, friendship ties, and community involvement are expected to inhance the life satisfaction of older people. But relationships among the social ties and the relative importance of these ties to life satisfaction remain unclear. To examine these relalionships, we analyzed data from more than 2,300 small-town Iowa respondents who were 50 years of age or older. Our results tended to support those reported in a previous article in this journal, particularly on the success of friendship ties and the failure of family relationships to predict life satisfaction. We found an even stronger relationship between community involvement and dissatisfaction with life, however. In addition, we analyzed data from four communities separately and found relationships varying substantially among them, thus influencing our conclusions.