ORIGINAL ARTICLE In the Company of Men: Quality of Life and Social Support Among the Ariaal of Northern Kenya Benjamin C. Campbell & Peter B. Gray & Jason Radak Published online: 24 May 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract To determine the age-related pattern of well-being among men and its predictors in a subsistence society, we collected anthropometric and questionnaire data among Ariaal pastoral nomads of northern Kenya. The sample consisted of 102 settled and 103 nomadic men ages 20 to 60+ stratified by 10 year age groups. Measures included questions from the WHO quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL), anthropometrics, and hand grip strength, as well as questions about the number of friends and kin who gave material and emotional support. Results show that while reported quality of life declined significantly across age groups in both sub-populations, nomadic males reported significantly higher overall quality of life than did settled males. Support from other males, but not marital status, was a significant predictor of quality of life, controlled for age group and residence. Among the physical measures, % body fat was positively related to quality of life among the nomads, while grip strength was not related to quality of life. In a multivariate model, male support was the strongest predictor of quality of life. These results provide the first clear demonstration of age-related declines in male quality of life and the importance of social support to men’s quality of life in a subsistence population. Keywords Africa . Life course . Social support . Pastoral nomads . Quality of life Introduction Both health and social support (Pinquart and Sorensen 2000; Helliwell and Putnam 2004), are generally thought to be important in quality of life, including age-related changes. For J Cross Cult Gerontol (2011) 26:221–237 DOI 10.1007/s10823-011-9146-x B. C. Campbell (*) Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sabin Hall 290, 3413 N. Downer Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA e-mail: campbelb@uwm.edu P. B. Gray Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA J. Radak Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA