Family support systems for the aged: Some social and demographic considerations

Abstract

Despite the continuing importance of family support systems for the aged, historical changes have created new constraints on families in caring for aging kin. Demographic change has reduced the number of descendents to whom an older person may turn for assistance. Change in women's social roles, particularly the rise in work outside the home, has fostered obligations which compete with duties toward aging parents. Transformations of the economy have decreased parents' power to insure their support by grown offspring. © The Gerontological Society of America.