A longitudinal study of residential differences in the composition of the helping networks of impaired elders

Abstract

Using data from the longitudinal file of the 1982–1984 National Long-Term Care Survey, this study examines residential differences in the degree to which elders who are not receiving formal services add formal providers to their helping networks over time. A sample of impaired elders ( N = 2,417) who lived in noninstitutionalized settings in both 1982 (Time 1) and 1984 (Time 2) and received assistance from only informal sources of support at Time 1 were studied. The analysis indicated that residential differences in network composition did exist at Time 2 for those elders who remained in the community. Whereas small town and urban elders had approximately the same proportion of elders at Time 2 who had added a formal service provider to their network (18.0% and 17.4%, respectively), a considerably smaller proportion of rural elders received support from community-based formal sources (12.2%). In addition, a multivariate model was estimated that included ten sociodemographic and health-related characteristics of the elder known to influence the use of formal services. Residence differences persisted even after the effects of these variables were controlled. Specifically, among persons not receiving formal services at Time 1, urban elders were 1.60 times as likely as rural or small town elders to have added a formal service provider to their helping network by Time 2.