Racial differences in family support and formal service utilization among older persons: a nonrecursive model

This research examines the relationship between the utilization of family help with activities of daily living and the use of formal community services among elderly persons for both Blacks and Whites. The analysis tests a nonrecursive model proposing a reciprocal relationship between the use of family for help with ADL/IADL tasks and the utilization of services by race. Two contradictory hypotheses are tested: the "compensatory" or "substitution" hypothesis, which suggests a negative reciprocal relationship between the use of informal and formal support, and the "linking" hypothesis, which indicates a positive reciprocal relationship. A multivariate analysis of data from the 1984 Supplement on Aging tested these hypotheses. The results fully support the "substitution" hypothesis for older Whites, but only partially for older Blacks. Receiving formal services is not associated with lower use of informal supports among Blacks.