Convoy Model

According to the convoy model of social relationships, individuals are surrounded by close social ties across the life course, and those ties are sources of support as well as strain. Social ties can vary in their quality (e.g., positive and negative) and function (e.g., types of support exchanged). The social ties that surround the individual vary by both personal (e.g., gender, age) and situational factors (e.g., social roles), and those factors as well as the qualities of close social ties are closely linked with health and well-being.

The types of support provided and the qualities of those ties are more closely linked with well-being than is the structure of those ties (e.g., the number, gender, age of ties). Over the lifespan, the convoy is continuous in ...