The Availability of Care for Late-Middle-Aged Adults With Chronic ...

Chapter 2

Background, Theory, and Hypotheses

Theoretical Framework

The task-specificity model of caregiving (Litwak, 1985) embedded within the life course perspective (also referred to as a theoretical orientation, framework, or paradigm in the literature—see Ajrouch, Antonucci, & Janevic, 2001; Elder & Johnson, 2002; George, 2002; Settersten, 2002) informed the specific hypotheses in this study. Elder (1994) attributed the emergence of the life course perspective to the integration of “various theoretical strands including the macro world of age stratification (Elder, 1975; Riley, Johnson, and Foner 1972), cultural and intergenerational models (Kertzer and Keith 1984), and developmental life span psychology (Baltes 1987)” (p. 5). A relatively new perspective, since the 1990s it has had a major role in the framing of studies surrounding families in the middle and later years (Allen, Blieszner, & Roberto, 2000).