THE INNER CITY ELDERLY: THE ROLE OF ETHNICITY IN THEIR SOCIAL SUPPORTS, HEALTH, AND LIFE SATISFACTIONS.
Item
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Title
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THE INNER CITY ELDERLY: THE ROLE OF ETHNICITY IN THEIR SOCIAL SUPPORTS, HEALTH, AND LIFE SATISFACTIONS.
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Identifier
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AAI8614670
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identifier
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8614670
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Creator
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DELEAIRE, ROBERT NATHANIEL.
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Contributor
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Norman W. Storer
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Date
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1986
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
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Abstract
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This dissertation reports the findings of an inquiry into the conditions of life of low-income, elderly, inner-city residents of New York City. They constitute a group that is heavily dependent on public resources for housing, transportation, and physical and mental health needs. The research is based on a secondary analysis of responses to a questionnaire administered in 1978 to some 525 Black, White, and Hispanic participants in the VERA Institute's "Easy-Ride" Program, 424 of whom were age 65 and over.;A central concern is the role of ethnicity in the respondent's social support networks, self-assessments of health, and life satisfactions. While the sample is not fully representative of all low-income elderly residents of New York, it affords ample opportunity to compare these groups and to seek explanations for the differences found among them.;In addition to describing the social and physical conditions of the elderly poor in this study, the work sets them in perspective by providing a detailed picture of the elderly in American society as a whole. Thereafter, attention is concentrated on intergroup differences.;It is found that the minority elderly tend, even after controlling on relevant variables, to report greater satisfaction with their health and with their lives than do the White elderly. Data are presented to show that this appears to be due to the development of strong family support-networks, and that it is the greater geographical mobility of the Whites' children which weakens such networks among this component of the respondents.;Without regard to ethnicity, however, the respondents showed general high levels of satisfaction with the services available to them.;Although in some instances the data do not agree with generally-accepted wisdom about the life circumstances of the aged, the study does provide a detailed analysis of the inner-city urban elderly.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Sociology
