Page 1 of 7 Exploring Physical, Mental and Psychological Health for Elders through Their Personal Networks Mohammed Shahadat Uddin Project Management Graduate Programme University of Sydney, Australia Email: m.uddin@usyd.edu.au Liaquat Hossain Project Management Graduate Programme University of Sydney, Australia Email: l.hossain@usyd.edu.au Abstract—In this study, we explore whether there is correlation between the personal network and its impact on physical, mental and psychological health of aging population. Previous research on aging and health suggest the importance of individual family network and social network on different aspects of health assessments and outcomes. We examine the impact of family network and social network on physical, mental and psychological health of elderly men and women by using a cross-national sample (N = 4412) from four Eastern Mediterranean countries of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia. We analyse the dataset entitled World Health Organisation Collaborative Study on Social and Health Aspects of Aging in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia both at a macro and a micro level. Results show that there is a strong impact of family network and social network on individual physical, mental, and psychological health both at a macro and a micro level. Keywords- personal network; physical health; mental health; psychological health. I. INTRODUCTION The enhancement and modern invention in medical science which reduces the incident of many life-losing diseases and makes the treatment of some of these diseases available is now supporting longevity of people [1]. It is quite common that people entering old age tend to become dependants on others and more influenced to their personal networks regarding their activities of daily living and health related issues [2]. After a lifetime of typically giving more to younger persons than they receive from them, elders must come to accept beneficence as like for parents receiving benefits from child [3]. This can be explained as getting benefits from past contributions. However, receiving this kind of benefits might be a problem as elders may have less to offer to balance the relationships with others [4]. Elders also may get benefits as a way of emotional sharing, awareness of positive health behavior from their social network. Thus, with the increase of life and influence to their social networks, elders become more dependent to their family network. Throughout this paper, we treat social network and family network as two classifications of individual personal network, which has been found to play an important role to human health [5-8]. To distinguish between social network and family network, we refer all relationships with non-relative people as well as distance relative belong to social network; whereas, family network is referred to relations with direct family members such as parent, son and daughter, brother and sister. The benefits that people may receive from their personal network could be (i) emotional, such as intimacy and attachment, reassurance, and the knowledge that one can confide in and rely on another; (ii) instrumental, such as direct financial aid or services; and (iii) informational, such as assistance with problem solving or provision of feedback [9]. Conversely, previous research also suggest that social isolation may produce undesirable changes such as lower immune function, and higher neuroendocrine and cardiovascular reactivity in the body, all of which may increase susceptibility to diseases [10] [11] [8]. In this study, we aim to explore the underlying relationships between the personal networks and its impact on physical, mental and psychological health of aging population. In particular, we examine the impact of family network and social network on individual physical, mental, and psychological health for each surveyed country as well at macro level exploring aggregate level dataset. Focusing on the micro level, we cluster the data samples on individual demographic characteristics of age, sex, and locality of birth place. We then test the impact of family network and social network on physical, mental and psychological health of elder people using approaches similar to a macro level for each cluster. II. BACKGROUND Health has no longer been considered as a one-dimensional experience; instead it incorporates physical, mental, and psychological aspects of well-being. Health has been regarded as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity [12]. It follows that in order to be healthy, physical fitness, being of sound mind, and social wellness which is the ability to form and maintain social and family network, all are equally important. As defined by World Health Organisation, physical health is good body health; whereas, mental health refers to the emotional well-being of individual. Psychological well-being or Healthcom 2009 978-1-4244-5014-5/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 29