| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
|
|
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
Support/Care Network, Social Network
The distinction between these two terms is particularly important in understanding the theoretical framework. Drawing from Faber and Wasserman (2001), the support network (sometimes referred to as the care network) referred to the individuals who actually provided hands-on assistance to persons with functional limitations. The social network, however, referred to people who were tied together through relationships and who may share resources. In this study, these were immediate family or household members who were present in the respondent’s life, but who may or may not have provided hands-on help. We considered these people to be potential helpers.
Format of the Remaining Chapters
The focus of this study was on age differences in the receipt and amount of care provided to persons 50 and older living in the community with functional limitations. In chapter 2, we present the theoretical framework used to inform our hypotheses, expand the discussion surrounding the importance of this study in space and time (i.e., the United States in 2000), and provide a brief summary of caregiving research to date before presenting our formal hypotheses. In chapter 3, we describe the data and methods used to achieve our goals.
Chapter 4 is the first analytic chapter. In it, we examine age differences in the receipt of care among individuals with an ADL/IADL difficulty. In chapter 5, and all remaining analytic chapters, we narrow the sample to those individuals with ADL/IADL difficulties who received at least a minimum amount of care, and examine age differences in the structure of the care network. In chapter 6, we examine age differences in the amount of care (measured in hours) received by sample members, with a particular focus on the amount of care provided by the primary caregiver.