LONGITUDINAL PATTERNS OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL SOCIAL SUPPORT IN AN URBAN ELDERLY POPULATION

Stability and change in the use of formal and informal social support was assessed over a three year period among a representative sample of 1855 elderly urban participants in a longitudinal study of aging and health. Whether people received informal, formal, both types of suppor t or no support was determined in baseline, 12 and 24 month personal i nterviews. Most respondents retained the same form of support across a ll three interviews. The extent of stability or change varied accordin g to the form of support reported at baseline. Two-thirds of those wit h no social support continued without support and 40% of those using b oth informal and formal support continued to do so at subsequent asses sments. The substitution of formal for informal support was infrequent and not statistically significant. Pair wise discriminant function an alyses of groups of respondents with the most frequent longitudinal su pport patterns were performed to identify baseline health and social c haracteristics associated with stable use, the addition of another for m of support or change to nonuse, over time. Changes in the use of sup port were influenced more by initial levels of health and functional s tatus than by social and economic circumstances. Larger proportions of respondents dropped use of support then added an additional form of s upport. Respondents using both formal and informal support at baseline died across time in higher proportions than those in other support ca tegories. The extent of stability in support use and nonuse, the chara cter of changes in support use across time and greater attrition among those who were the heaviest users of support, serve to create a relat ive balance in the use of informal and formal support in this aging co hort, at least over the time frame over which respondents were followe d in this study.