ORIGINAL ARTICLE Social network and life satisfaction among older adults in rural Uttar Pradesh, India: an application of structural equation modelling Lucky Singh 1 & Prashant Kumar Singh 2 Received: 15 June 2018 / Accepted: 9 April 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Aim The effect of social networks on health has been widely investigated; however, no study in India has looked into the effects of specific social networks with children, relatives, friends and confidants on life satisfaction among the elderly. This article examines the association between social network and life satisfaction among the rural elderly. Subjects and methods A sample of 630 older persons living in 12 villages in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, was selected. This study used Berkman’ s theoretical model of social relations linking to life satisfaction. Results Results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated that the four specific social network types—children, rela- tives, friends and confidants—were tenable. The result of structural equation modelling shows that the higher network with ‘relatives/siblings’ is significant in promoting life satisfaction. Conclusion The study suggests that there is a need for sensitisation of families and the community at large to the needs and problems of the elderly. Keywords Social network . Life satisfaction . Older adults . Structural equation modelling . India Introduction Life satisfaction (LS) is an important universal objective and measurement of the quality of life, when a person gives con- scious evaluative judgements about his or her satisfaction with their life as a whole or evaluative judgements about specific aspects of their life. Studies have defined life satisfaction as Ba cognitive judgmental global evaluation of one’ s life. It may be influenced by affect but is not itself a direct measure of emotion^ (Diener et al. 1999). Since the 1980s, there has been a considerable increase in research on life satisfaction, which is a cognitive-evaluative factor according to most researchers. Specifically, studies on life satisfaction are particularly depen- dent on social comparisons with other important reference groups, for example, with different age groups or a cross- cultural comparison. Although life satisfaction has been mea- sured and studied in a systematic way only in recent years, self-report questions about life satisfaction are commonly in- cluded in surveys and used as indicators in large cross-cultural surveys. Life satisfaction continues to be an important construct in the psycho-social study of ageing. It is one of the commonly accepted subjective conditions of the quality of life and seems to be one of the facets of successful ageing, both of which are key concepts in ageing (Iyer 2003). Some persons achieve a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction in their old age, while others turn bitter and lament the decline of their physical abil- ities and social significance. For instance, studies assert that elderly people review their past life, and if they feel that most goals of their life have been fulfilled, they feel satisfied (Erikson et al. 1986). Conversely, a feeling that not much has been achieved brings a sense of despair among the aged, because it may be too late to make amends. Some researchers focus on cross-cultural or cross-national differences in life satisfaction. Economic and cultural factors Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01074-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Lucky Singh lucky.5bhu@gmail.com 1 ICMR - National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India 2 Division of Preventive Oncology, ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, India Journal of Public Health: From Theory to Practice https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01074-4