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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Gender, informal social support networks, and elderly urban African Americans | | Author(s) | Judith C Barker, Joelle Morrow, Linda S Mitteness |
| Journal title | Journal of Aging Studies, vol 12, no 2, Summer 1998 |
| Pages | pp 199-222 |
| Keywords | Black people ; Older men ; Older women ; Informal care ; Urban areas ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Gender differences in informal social support are explored, using data from a semi-longitudinal interview study of 45 urban, community-living African Americans aged 65 and over. Women were found to have significantly larger, more extended informal social support networks than men. Adult children, particularly daughters, were key figures in the networks, especially for women. Men, especially those married to women who were not the mothers of their children, have small and vulnerable networks. The size and composition of informal social networks were stable over a 6-month period, despite some change in the health and physical functioning of respondents. Informal social support networks existed long before such networks were needed for caregiving purposes; and such networks arose in response to socioeconomic and affiliative needs across the entire lifespan, rather than just in response to health or physical needs in late life. Societal marginalisation of Black men throughout their lives has had profound effects on their access to informal social support in late life. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990126209 A |
| Classmark | TKE: BC: BD: P6: RK: 3J: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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