Social Support System of the Elderly Living Alone

1992 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 03451036
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: 社会学(含社会福祉関係)
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology
• Principal Investigator: KOYANO Wataru Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerohtology, Section Chief, 社会学部門, 研究室長 (30162077)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NOGUCHI Yuji 東京学芸大学, 教育学部, 助教授 (60183547) ; KITANO Seiichi 桃山学院大学, 社会学部, 助教授 (60186252)
• Project Period (FY): 1991 – 1992
• Keywords: Elderly living alone / Social support / Social network / 独居老人

Research Abstract

Social support system of the elderly living alone was observed in this research project. The survey was conducted in Kawachi-Nagano City, Osaka Prefecture, in 1992. The subjects were 1,223 elderly living alone registered in the residents registration system of the city. Among the subjects listed, 485 were excluded because of co-residence with others, residential movement, or death. Among the remaining 738 subjects, home-visit interviews were completed for 627 subjects. The response rate was 85.0%.
Although the elderly living alone are imaged as socially isolated and psychologically alone, the results of this research showed such images are wrong. About 70% of the subjects had adults children, and maintained frequent contacts with their children living apart, siblings and relatives, and neighbors. Based on these contacts, the subjects had available sources of informal social support.