Emotional Confidants in Ethnic Communities: Social Network Analysis of Korean American Older Adults

Purpose.  Ethnic communities often serve as a primary source of support for older immigrants.  Especially for emotional needs, older ethnic immigrants often prefer seeking support from age peers in their community rather than from mental health professionals or even family members.  Given its potential importance, the present study explored the emotional support structure of an ethnic community.  Using a sample of Korean American older adults as a target and the Social Network Analysis (SNA) name-generator as a tool, each participant was asked to list the names of three emotional confidants among age peers in the community (i.e., people with whom one shares a personal matter or emotional concern).  Our focus was on how often each participant (i.e., ego) is nominated by peer alters.  The ego’s “popularity” can be understood in the context of in-degree centrality, the number of ties that each ego receives from his or her available alters.  The aims of the study were (1) to identify people who are more likely to be viewed as emotional confidants by community members and (2) to identify factors contributing to the likelihood of being a confidant.  Based on the Status Characteristics Theory (SCT), we hypothesized that higher levels of in-degree centrality would be observed among individuals with more demographic, health, and psycho-socio-cultural resources. 

Methods.  Data were drawn from a survey with 675 Korean American older residents of Central Florida (M _age = 70.2, SD = 6.87).  UCINET 6 was used to calculate in-degree centrality and visualize the network patterns.  A predictive model of in-degree centrality was estimated using Poisson regression analysis, which is an optimal method for count data with a high level of skewness. 

Results.  In-degree centrality scores ranged from 0 to 7, with an average of 0.49 (SD = 0.95).  The score distribution was non-normal (skewness = 2.66, SE = 0.09), and approximately 30% of the sample received at least one nomination.  A higher level of in-degree centrality was predicted by male gender (B = 0.71, p < 0.001), advanced education (B = 0.55, p < 0.01), lower functional disability (B = −0.07, p < 0.05), fewer symptoms of depression (B = −0.04, p < 0.05), and higher levels of participation in social activities (B = 0.08, p < 0.001). 

Discussion.  The findings are in line with the notion of the Status Characteristics Theory (SCT) that personal characteristics and attributes determine one’s status in social interactions.  Our findings suggest the application of SNA in identifying the key emotional support leaders in the community and utilizing them in community-based interventions.  Given that the frequently-endorsed emotional confidants already play a role as non-professional peer counselors in the community, the findings call attention to the potential value of targeting them for educational programs on mental health.  By promoting their mental health literacy and positive perceptions of mental health services, mental health needs in the community can be properly addressed.