Arch. Gerontol. Geriatr., 2 (1983) 211-220 211 Elsevier AGG 00039 Supportive exchange: an exploration of the relationship between social contacts and perceived health status in the elderly * Meredith A. Minkler l, William A. Satariano 2 and Carol Langhauser 1 I School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; 2 Department of Social Oncology, Michigan Cancer Foundation, Detroit, M I 48201, U.S.A. (Received 27 October 1982; revised version received 25 April 1983; accepted 3 May 1983) Summary While social ties are known to bear an important relationship to health status among the elderly, the components of that association remain unclear. This study explored the hypothesis that 'supportive exchange', or the giving and seeking of advice and other forms of assistance, bears an important relationship to perceived health status. Six-hundred and seventy-eight elderly residents of Alameda County, CA, participated in this survey research study, which examined social ties, supportive exchange, and health status. A strong relationship was found between a key dimension of supportive exchange - the giving and seeking of advice - and self-reported health status. The association between advice seeking and health status was particularly high, demonstrating that advice seeking may be as strongly associated with health status as social ties. While it is important to develop refined indices for the measurement of other dimensions of supportive exchange, this exploratory study suggests that the concept may be a useful one in furthering research on the relationship between health status and social contacts among the elderly. social support; social networks; social ties Introduction A central question in the epidemiology of aging is why some older people experience high rates of illness and disability while others remain in good health. While several key factors, e.g., social class (Syme and Berkman, 1976), life satisfac- tion (Markides and Martin, 1979; Palmore, 1979), and smoking and exercise (Belloc, * This paper is based on a presentation at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Society, Toronto, Canada, November 13, 1981. Support for this research was provided by the Dowdle Fund. Address reprint requests to: Dr. Meredith Minkler. 016%4943/83/$03.00 © 1983 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.