Biomedical subjects

I A Connidis

Publications and source records attributed to I A Connidis.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1994

Sibling support in older age.

Data from a multi-stage quota sample which includes 528 respondents aged 55 and over with at least one living sibling are used to examine instrumental support (financial, help during illness, other) from siblings, the perception of siblings as a source of support if needed (in a crisis, long-term illness, coresidence), and the characteristics of respondents and their sibling networks associated with receiving help and perceiving help to be available. A minority of respondents have received sibling support, and a majority perceive siblings to be available in a crisis. Those with two or more siblings are more likely to have received help and to perceive siblings as available than those with one sibling. Significant differences by gender, marital status, parent status, and geographic proximity are discussed with reference to models of support, particularly the functional-specificity of relationships model.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1993

To have or have not: parent status and the subjective well-being of older men and women.

Data from a multi-stage quota sample of adults aged 55 and over were used to examine the effect of parent status on three measures of subjective well-being--avowed happiness, depression, and satisfaction with life. Unlike other studies, we employed four categories of parent status: close parents, distant parents, those who chose not to have children, and those who are childless by circumstance. We found significant differences in subjective well-being between close parents and distant parents, and between close parents and the childless by circumstance but not the childless by choice. We also found important differences, by gender, in which factors predict subjective well-being.

Aged↗

PubMed1992

Confidants and companions: choices in later life.

This study examines and compares the correlates of considering each of the following as a confidant or a companion: spouse, children, siblings, other relatives, friends. Using a Canadian sample of 400 respondents aged 65 and over, we found evidence of substitution among the previously married and childless; more extensive ties to children and more intimate ties to friends among women; the importance of geographic proximity to children for confiding and companionship, and to siblings for confiding; the relevance of family size to confiding in siblings; and the precariousness of friendship as one reaches very old age. Predictors of who serve as confidants and as companions are similar, but important differences emerge. We compared our results to those of studies in Australia and the United States and to an earlier analysis of network composition and concluded that the confiding and companionate relations of older persons are best understood by combining the results of relationship-specific and network composition analyses.

Aged↗

PubMed1990

Confidants and companions in later life: the place of family and friends.

Responses from a sample of 400 older persons were used to determine the relative importance of various family members (spouse, children, siblings, other relatives) and friends in the confidant and companion networks of later life. Significant differences exist among older persons (based on gender, marital status, and availability of children) in the salience of these ties as confidants and companions. There are also major differences in the configuration of the confidant vs companion networks. These variations are discussed in the context of the hierarchical-compensation, task specificity, and functional specificity of relationships models of support. The findings demonstrate that a distinction regarding availability of kin must be made among those who never had a particular kin tie (e.g., the childless and single), those who have lost a previous tie (e.g., the widowed), and those whose tie lives far away.

Aged↗