This study proposes to reinterview a national sample of 1049 white, ever-married women born 1901-1910, interviewed initially in a 1978 survey of Low Fertility Birth Cohorts. Interviews will also be conducted with the principal caregiver or potential caregiver. The purpose of the research is to study changes in personal and social resources of women in the decade prior to old-old age, using a representative sample and a longitudinal design. The primary focus is on factors affecting the availability of support for women in later life, looking at consequences of changes in sociodemographic variables, perceived health and functional capacity, kinship structure and informal sources of support for four key outcomes that define the conditions of older people's care: mode of primary support, living arrangements, institutionalization and survivorship. The study will employ descriptive and multivariate techniques. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of relationships between dependent and independent variables will be performed. Baseline data will be matched with information collected in the follow-up survey in order to analyze transitions over time in both explanatory variables (such as change in functional capacity, loss of spouse) and key outcome variables. Other important research interests are the consequences for social support available in later life of particular characteristics of the 1901-1910 cohorts, such as proportion childless and employment experience. Factors generating constraints against the provision of care by families and informal sources of support are also a major research interest.
