Many studies have documented the importance of family and friends in providing long-term care to the elderly. A study conducted in 1982 examined a nationally representative probability sample of informal caregivers assisting frail and/or disabled elderly persons in an effort to develop a descriptive profile of the informal caregiver. Data were drawn from the Informal Caregivers Survey, a component of the National Long-Term Care Survey (LTCS). From October 1982 through January 1983, interviews were conducted with 1,924 persons aged 14 years and older who were identified by the elderly participants of the LTCS as providing unpaid assistance with at least one activity of daily living. The results revealed that informal caregivers to the disabled elderly were predominantly female and that three-quarters of them lived with the care recipient. The findings suggest that caregivers as well as care recipients are a vulnerable group since one-third of the cargivers were over age 65, reported incomes in the poor to near-poor category, mid described their health status as fair or poor. Less than 10 percent of the caregivers reported purchasing services. Evidence was also found of competing familial ahd employment demands among a subgroup of caregivers. References and five data tables are appended. (Author/NB)

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Although marriage has been shown to have important health-protective consequences, it is not clear to what extent these effects are due to marriage per se or to the fact that married people are less likely to live alone. The social support literature suggests that living with others may reduce the need for use of formal and informal health care services independently of marital status because of (a) the substitution of home care, and/or (b) enhancement of physical and mental health. This study of elderly persons, based on data from the National Medical Care Expenditure Survey (NMCES), examined the substitution hypothesis. The impact of marital status and living arrangements on the use of formal health services among persons 65 years of age and older was examined using path analysis. These data confirm a substitution effect whereby persons living with others are more likely to stay in bed, but less likely to see a doctor, than are persons who live alone.

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