Later-Life Social Support and Service Provision in Diverse and Vulnerable Populations ─ Understanding Networks of Care

Later-Life Social Support and Service Provision in Diverse and Vulnerable Populations offers current, multi-disciplinary perspectives on social support and service provision to older Americans. The chapters trace how our understanding of social support among older adults has developed over the past forty years and explore current gerontological research in the area. They consider how informal care arrangements articulate with formal long-term care policies and programs to provide support to the diverse population of older Americans. They also emphasize heterogeneity in the composition of support networks, particularly in relation to gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and immigrant status. Collectively, the chapters provide insight into the complexity of older adult’s social support networks that can be used to improve the services provided to caregivers and care recipients as well as the policies that promote high-quality support to people of all ages who are in need of assistance.

Janet M. Wilmoth, PhD, is a professor of sociology, director of the Aging Studies Institute, senior research affiliate in the Center for Policy Research, and senior fellow in the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University.

Merril D. Silverstein, PhD, is the inaugural holder of the Marjorie Cantor Chair in Aging Studies at Syracuse University in the Maxwell School Department of Sociology and Falk College Department of Human Development and Family Science.