Data from the Survey on Ageing and Independence are employed to test the relationship between stress, integration in close family and friend networks, and well-being with a particular emphasis on parent status. The dependent variables used in this analysis are, whether individuals have a close family member or a close friend, the number of reported close relatives and friends, life stress, and the affect balance scale. It is hypothesized that the zero order relationship often found between parent status and well-being may be due to (1) a fundamental difference in the social support experiences of older parents and older childless individuals, (2) different levels of stress among these groups, or (3) the potential of friends to be of greater importance in assuring well-being in older age than family. Results show that childless persons are less likely than parents to have at least one close family member and they have fewer close relatives. No parent status differences are found regarding the likelihood of having a close friend or in the number of close friends individuals have. Compared to parents, childless individuals experience less life stress and similar levels of well-being. Finally, the nature of the stress-support-well-being relationship appears to be the same regardless of parent status.

This paper examines friendship in later life, drawing upon data obtained from in-depth interviews conducted with a sample of 142 elderly women who were living in a small town in Atlantic Canada. The nature and meaning of friendship in later life is examined from the perspective of the elderly woman. The data indicate that most respondents have a substantial number of friends and differentiate between different types of friends: ‘friends’ and ‘close friends,’ ‘old friends’ and those acquired more recently. Focusing attention on the concepts of self-identity and reciprocity, an attempt is made to explain why older people might more highly value their old friends than those acquired more recently.

In this paper we investigate the geographical context in which employed caregivers provide assistance to their elderly relatives. Specifically, we examine the impact of the spatial arrangement of the employed caregiver's home, their workplace and the care recipient's home (the “locational triangle” alluded to in our title) on work-family balance. Analysis of data drawn from a national study of Work and Family conducted by the Canadian Aging Research Network (CARNET) indicates that the parameters of the locational triangle have discernable impacts on levels of perceived stress and interference and on the incidence of certain job effects and coping behaviours. The impacts of longer journey to work and increased distance from elderly relative(s) on stress and interference levels are seen to be bound up with the nature of family responsibilities. Location-based coping behaviours (considered or implemented in the six months leading up to the survey) are reported by 18 per cent of our sample of 595 employed caregivers, but are virtually confined to the home-elder axis of the location triangle. On the basis of our results, we advocate greater attention to the spatial context of work-family balance.

Objective: To compare demographic and functional characteristics of elderly users and non-users of home care services in urban Nova Scotia (n = 533) and Newfoundland (n = 449) using a cross sectional study design.

Results: More Nova Scotians (24%) than Newfoundlanders (11%) received home care services. In both provinces, most ADL-dependent people do not receive home care services, and most home care users are not ADL dependent. In Newfoundland, home care users were more likely to be ADL dependent and to have dementia; this was not the case in Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia being over age 85 without a supporter in the same residence, not being married, and having an IADL limitation significantly increased the likelihood of home care use. IADL impaired subjects in Newfoundland were also more likely to receive home care.

Conclusions: If home care is to substitute for institutional care, existing home care programs must be prepared to adapt to a new type of user.

An analysis is made concerning the relation of different factors to client transfer between levels of care in an area-based system of long-term care for the elderly and the disabled. Special emphasis is given to the transfer from non-institutional to institutional care. The analysis uses data collected through the application of the ASIM monitoring system from 1985 to 1991 in the municipality of Solna, Sweden. Factors analysed include age, sex, marital status, co-habitation, accessibility of housing, informal social support and different aspects of disability. Multivariate analysis regarding factors related to institutionalization — i.e. transfer from domiciliary care or sheltered housing to residential home or long-term hospital care/nursing home — showed level of disability, staff assessment of appropriate level of care and age to be the most significant factors. Dementia was the strongest individual disability factor with functional disability and incontinence also having some influence on the probability of transfer. Deficiencies in the social environment in terms of living alone, inadequate housing accessibility or lack of social support did not show up — presumably because they were adequately compensated for by the public home help services

Although many studies have been published over the past ten years on informal support of dependent elderly, few, if any, have examined the reticence of their caregivers to use formal support services. Further understanding of this phenomenon is required, for it questions the feasability of preventive measures for this population as well as the relationship between formal and informal support systems, considered optimal by government in their efforts to rationalize today's health care services. This article presents a conceptual framework enabling us to better understand the reasons why caregivers of the elderly seldom use formal support services, and discusses health, social and research implications.