1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«To examine whether the association between emotional support and indicators of health and quality of life differs between Canadian and Latin American older adults.» (p. 1)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«We expect that more emotional support will generally be associated with better health, mood and quality of life in older adults. We also expect that different sources of support will have different effects on the outcomes, and that these associations will vary cross-culturally in North America when compared to Latin America.» (p. 1)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«For this study, we analysed baseline data from the International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS), which were collected in 2012. […] Briefly, the sample includes 400 community-dwelling adults (200 men and 200 women) aged 65–74 years at each of the four sites, [Kingston (Ontario) and Saint-Hyacinthe (Quebec) in Canada, Manizales in the Andean Mountains of Colombia and Natal in North East Brazil], for a total sample of 1600.» (p. 2)

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The association between social support and health, mood and quality of life differed cross-culturally according to its source. Among Canadian participants, protective associations were found between good health and less depression and high levels of support from friends and having a partner. No effect was observed for the quality of the support from partner, children or family, demonstrating that they did not play a role in health, depression or quality of life. Among Latin American participants, the strongest associations were seen when support came from extended family, children and partner, whereas support from friends did not play a significant role. In fact, among Latin Americans, having high levels of social support from family and partner was related to good health, and having high support from children was also related to less depression and better quality of life. Quality of life was related to receiving high levels of support from the partner, and those with poor support from children appeared to have worse quality of life than those without children. We conclude that aside from the importance of relationships with friends, in Canada, the presence of a partner is more important than the quality of support, which is different from the results in Latin America where not merely the presence of the social tie, but the levels of support from family members, children and partner are significantly associated with older adults’ health and well-being.» (p. 7) Les données pour le Canada sont présentées selon une comparaison entre les participants de la ville de Kinston en Ontario et Saint-Hyacinthe au Québec.