- Title
- Ties That Bind: Marital History, Kinship Ties and Social Support Among Older Americans
- Author(s)
- Sara Curran Sara Curran (Princeton University)
- Sara McLanahan Sara McLanahan (Princeton University)
- Jean Knab Jean Knab (Princeton University)
- 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.
- Creation Date
- 1998-04
- Section URL ID
- OPR
- Paper Number
- opr9801.pdf
- URL
- https://web.archive.org/web/20150906210130/http://opr.princeton.edu/papers/opr9801.pdf
- File Function
- Jel
- J12
- Keyword(s)
- NSFH
- Suppress
- false
- Series
- 11