Receipt of emotional support among rural South African adults

Abstract

As the world undergoes rapid ageing, informal support from friends and relatives is becoming especially important among older adults in middle- and low-income countries, where formalised social protections may be limited. We use new data from a cohort of adults aged 40 and older in rural South Africa to explore how receipt of emotional support differs by gender and marital status. Our findings suggest that women are more likely to get emotional support than men and have more sources of support. Moreover, women are more likely to get emotional support from relatives, whereas men are more likely to get support from friends. In regard to marital status, married people are more likely to get emotional support and have more sources of support than people who are not married. However, separated/divorced and widowed people are more likely to get emotional support from relatives and have more sources of non-spousal support than married people. These findings point towards gaps in informal systems of support, and the particular importance of considering men and unmarried (especially never-married) people when designing policies to offer social protections to older populations.

The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

“…These results highlight the importance of having adult children for both men and women particularly in contexts with a limited social safety net (Margolis and Myrskylä 2011). The relatively greater benefits for older women than men likely reflects women's greater dependence on adult children for both economic and emotional support at older ages (Jennings, Mkhwanazi and Berkman 2018).…”

“…Evidence also suggests that even if parents of reproductive age receive few, if any, psychological benefits from children, older parents enjoy the social interaction and emotional support provided by adult children (Deaton and Stone 2014;Margolis and Myrskylä 2011;Umberson and Williams 1999). Research from rural South Africa suggests that older women, in particular, are likely to receive emotional support from relatives (many of whom are presumably their adult children) (Jennings, Mkhwanazi and Berkman 2018).…”

The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

“…These results highlight the importance of having adult children for women particularly in contexts of high poverty and limited social safety nets (Margolis and Myrskylä 2011). The relatively greater benefits for older women than men likely reflects women's greater dependence on adult children for both economic and emotional support at older ages (Jennings, Mkhwanazi, and Berkman 2018).…”

“…Given the very limited social security programs available for the elderly in most African countries, older adults are more likely to depend on their adult children for economic security (Aassve, Mencarini, and Sironi 2015; Margolis and Myrskylä 2011; Pollmann‐Schult 2018). Furthermore, research from rural South Africa suggests that older women, in particular, are likely to receive considerable emotional support from relatives (many of whom are presumably their adult children) (Jennings, Mkhwanazi, and Berkman 2018). Hence, while both older men and women may reap psychological benefits from having more adult children, these gains may be even larger for older women than for older men.…”

Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa

“…There are a number of domains in which important findings have been identified: prevalence of diseases and conditions, risks related to socioeconomic conditions, social networks, and adverse experiences in childhood. Specifically, substantial contributions have been made toward understanding cognitive function, cardiovascular disorders and risks, HIV/AIDS and social networks, and family dynamics to date in HAALSI (Mateen et al 2017;Rohr et al 2017;Geldsetzer et al 2018;Harling et al 2018bHarling et al , 2019Kobayashi et al 2018a;Gómez-Olivé et al 2018b;Jennings et al 2018;Chang et al 2019). The HAALSI study measures cognitive function through both standardized cognitive batteries widely used in aging research as well as novel tablet-based measures which have been modified and validated for the low literacy and low educational attainment setting in Agincourt (Kobayashi et al 2018a).…”