Compare methods

	Convoy Model Social Network Mapping	De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale
Field	Social Gerontology	Social Psychology
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1980	1985
Originator	Robert L. Kahn & Toni C. Antonucci	Jenny De Jong Gierveld and Fons Kamphuis
Type	Elicitation-and-coding pipeline for personal social networks across the life course	Self-report questionnaire
Seminal source	Kahn, R. L., & Antonucci, T. C. (1980). Convoys over the life course: Attachment, roles, and social support. In P. B. Baltes & O. G. Brim (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 3, pp. 253-286). Academic Press.	De Jong Gierveld, J., & Kamphuis, F. (1985). The development of a Rasch-type loneliness scale. Applied Psychological Measurement, 9(4), 289-299.
Aliases	Social Convoy Model, Hierarchical Mapping Technique, Antonucci Convoy Mapping, Convoys Over the Life Course	DJGLS, De Jong-Gierveld Scale, 11-item Loneliness Scale
Related	3	3
Summary	The convoy model of social relations conceives of each person as moving through life surrounded by a 'convoy' of significant others who provide and receive social support. Introduced by Robert Kahn and Toni Antonucci in 1980, the model frames personal networks as dynamic structures shaped by stable attachments, changing social roles, and life-course transitions. Its signature elicitation tool is the hierarchical mapping technique, in which respondents place the people important to them into three concentric circles around a focal self, with the innermost circle reserved for those so close that life without them is hard to imagine. From this map an analyst codes the convoy's structure, composition, and the support functions its members serve, distinguishing aid, affection, and affirmation. The approach yields a person-centered, qualitative-plus-quantitative portrait of social embeddedness that complements count-based scales. It has become a foundational framework in gerontology and life-span developmental psychology for studying how relationships sustain well-being across aging.	The De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale is one of the most extensively used brief instruments for measuring loneliness in population surveys, clinical research, and gerontological studies. Developed by Jenny De Jong Gierveld and Fons Kamphuis in 1985, the 11-item scale (with a shorter 6-item version available) measures emotional and social dimensions of loneliness, based on the theory that loneliness arises from a discrepancy between desired and actual social relationships. The DJGLS is valued for its brevity, ease of administration, strong psychometric properties, and widespread availability in 30+ languages.