SOCIAL NETWORKS, MARITAL-STATUS, AND WELL-BEING

Recent research demonstrates both the role social networks play in well-being through the provision of social support and the connection between marital status and well-being. Research has also demonstrated that networks serve as resources through the provision of instrumental aid. In this paper, we build upon these literatures by asking whether the form and composition of social networks affect well-being and whether these effects vary contextually by marital status. Using multiple indicators of life satisfaction and anomia, we find that social networks do affect both aspects of well-being, and that the effects of network structure on life satisfaction differ across marital status. The pattern of these effects suggests that different structural positions (e.g. marital statuses) produce a need for different types of resources. We find no contextual effects on the relationship between network structure and anomia, however.