Race, Gender, and the Effect of Social Supports on the Use of Health Services by Elderly Individuals

Abstract

This study examines the effects of social supports on the use of health services by elderly individuals, and whether those effects differ by race or gender. Multiple regression analysis of the 5,151 baseline Longitudinal Study on Aging (LSOA) respondents revealed that social supports, mainly church attendance, increased the R2s when estimated separately within race and gender groups in a statistically significant manner. The magnitude of these increases, however, was small suggesting that their unique contribution may be minimal. The effects of the social support variables on the use of health services differed by race and gender. These differences, however, were not consistent across the various measures of health services utilization.

What makes old people perceive symptoms of illness? The impact of psychological and social factors

“…O n the other hand, Beekm an (1995) found that older individuals very often express depressive feelings in term s of physical sym ptom s. T hirdly, to report sym ptom s in a survey when one is asked to help reserch by doing so, is not the sam e thing as going to a physician to state the sam e sym ptom s. We do not know to what extent the respondents experienced anxiety in connection to their reported sym ptom s. T hat is, the perception of sym ptom s is one, but not the only reason, why people visit health care physicians. For exam ple, the degree of anxiety over the sym ptom s, the degree and quality of social support (Nelson, 1993;Schm itz et al, 1997) and the trust in the health care could be determ ining factors, w hich were not present in the assessm ents of this study.…”

Correlates of recency of eye examination among elderly African-Americans

“…These findings are generally consistent with previous cross-sectional studies of elderly adults' use of health services that report low R 2 and also indicate that the net contribution of need characteristics is larger than the individual contributions of either the predisposing or enabling characteristics. 16,[32][33][34] . However, using longitudinal data that include the previous use and previous health conditions increased the amount of variance explained by the health care services utilization framework developed by Andersen et al 35 Therefore, one limitation of this study is the crosssectional survey design used.…”

Health care utilization behavior of elders in a multicultural urban environment

“…Portes & Stepick (1993) go further to state that, "common meaning are arrived at when relevant audiences agree to stress certain aspects of a given phenomenon and interpret them on the basis of shared past experience" (Portes & Stepick, 1993: 9). However, projected increases in the cultural diversity of the elder population will have important implications for the provision of health and social services (Nelson, 1993;Angel & Hogan, 1992; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992; U.S. G.A.O., 1992;Kravitz, et al, 1989;Wolinsky & Arnold, 1988). Thus, an understanding of the unique factors and determinants that influence the health care utilization behavior of racial/ethnic groups of elders has broader connotations beyond just an academic pursuit.…”

“…Nelson (1993) states that "social supports play a significant role in the lives of elderly individuals." In other research it has been found that "supportive relationship [s] are associated with lower illness rates, faster recovery rates and higher levels of health care behavior" (Nelson, 1993). For instance, "widowhood significantly alters both eating behaviors and dietary quality" for the worse (Rosenbloom & Whittington, 1993).…”

“…While anecdotal evidence suggests that social support plays a significant role in the lives of older individuals (Nelson, 1993), exploration of the role of social support on elderly utilization of health services has largely been ignored until recently. The measure of social contact intensity with family and friends used in this analysis is one way to measure the importance of informal social support networks without being too invasive to the privacy of the elder respondent.…”