Ties That Bind: Marital History, Kinship Ties and Social Support Among Older Americans

Sara Curran, Sara McLanahan and Jean Knab
Additional contact information
Sara Curran: Princeton University
Sara McLanahan: Princeton University
Jean Knab: Princeton University

No 327, Working Papers from Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Office of Population Research.

Abstract: This study analyzes the importance of marital history (as one measure of kin network) to intergenerational exchanges of support among the elderly using the first round of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH1, 1987-88). Specifically we examine the impact of never being married as well as multiple marriages (accounting for different ways that marriages may be disrupted), relative to one marriage, upon potential social support as measured along three dimensions: emergencies, borrowing money, and talking with someone when depressed. The results of the study yield insights on the hypothesis that with each successive cohort of elderly a growing diversity of kin (through more complex marital histories) will lead to both greater variety and potential sources of social support.

Keywords: NSFH (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998-04
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://web.archive.org/web/20150906210130/http:// ... u/papers/opr9801.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:opopre:opr9801.pdf

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Office of Population Research. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bobray Bordelon ().