Although it is widely accepted that personal networks influence health and illness, network recall remains a major concern. This concern is heightened when studying a population that is vulnerable to cognitive decline. Given these issues, we use data from the Social Network in Alzheimer Disease project to explore similarities and discrepancies between the network perceptions of focal participants and study partners. By leveraging data on a sample of older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and early stage dementia, we explore how cognitive impairment influences older adults’ perceptions of their personal networks. We find that the average individual is more likely to omit weaker, peripheral ties from their self-reported networks than stronger, central ties. Despite observing only moderate levels of focal-partner corroboration across our sample, we find minimal evidence of perceptual differences across diagnostic groups. We offer two broad conclusions. First, self-reported network data, though imperfect, offer a reasonable account of the core people in one’s life. Second, our findings assuage concerns that cognitively impaired older adults have skewed perceptions of their personal networks.

尽管人们普遍认为个人网络会影响健康和疾病，但网络回忆仍然是一个主要问题。当研究易受认知能力下降的人群时，这种担忧就更加突出了。鉴于这些问题，我们使用阿尔茨海默病社交网络项目的数据来探索焦点参与者和研究伙伴的网络认知之间的相似性和差异。通过利用认知正常、轻度认知障碍和早期痴呆的老年人样本的数据，我们探索认知障碍如何影响老年人对其个人网络的看法。我们发现，与较强的中心联系相比，普通人更有可能从他们的自我报告网络中忽略较弱的外围联系。尽管在我们的样本中仅观察到中等水平的焦点伴侣佐证，但我们发现诊断组之间感知差异的证据很少。我们提供两个广泛的结论。首先，自我报告的网络数据虽然不完善，但却合理地描述了一个人生活中的核心人物。其次，我们的研究结果缓解了人们对认知障碍老年人对其个人网络的看法存在偏差的担忧。