This study is part of the programme Living arrangements and social networks of older adults ( Leefvormen en sociale netwerken van ouderen - LSN - ), containing the network data of this programme. The survey data are stored as a separate study as P1296. The programme was developed on request of the Netherlands Programme for Research on Aging ( Nederlands Stimuleringsprogramma Ouderenonderzoek - NESTOR ). In the framework of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam ( LASA ), the respondents of this survey born after 1908 are being followed up until the year 2000. At the Dipartimento di Statistica e Matematica Applicata all'Economia, Universita degli Studi di Pisa, Italia similar data were collected in Tuscany, Italia. The original documentation pays attention to links between these data. For a number of largely technical reasons, the data of this study are stored as a set of files that cover various hierarchic levels, contain various research units, and in so far as the files of the same hierarchic level pertain to the same research unit, they have varying numbers of cases. Consultation of the original Sourcebook, available as machine readable file, is strongly recommended.

Themes: background data on respondent / capacity for everyday activities ( ADL - items ) / social support given and received / instumental and emotional support /frequency of contact /activity intensity to maintain contact /travel time and distances between network members / type of relationship / quality of the relationship / loneliness / exchange / communal orientation /relationship norms / life events / family characteristics.

Background variables: basic characteristics/ residence/ household characteristics/ occupation/employment/ education