Abstract:

To study gender differences in need for social support among elderly Canadians, requests for formal assistance, amount of formal assistance used, & amount of informal assistance received were analyzed using data for a sample of 403 drawn from the 1982 Survey of the Elderly in the Waterloo Region (Jackson, J. A., & Forbes, W. F., 1984 publication information not provided ). Variance & logistic regression procedures show similarities & differences in the way elderly males & females (Ms & Fs) give & receive social support. F respondents were found to be disadvantaged in the areas of income, health, years lived alone, & loneliness, relative to Ms, but no more likely to turn to or use formal services than Ms. Because Ms are more likely to receive informal assistance from their wives, & Fs from their children, particularly daughters, it appears that Fs are predominant on both sides of the population aging problem, as care receivers & caregivers, who may increasingly become dependent on formal social support programs.