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Marital Status and Family Support for the Oldest-Old in Great Britain

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Book cover Human Longevity, Individual Life Duration, and the Growth of the Oldest-Old Population

Part of the book series: International Studies in Population ((ISIP,volume 4))

In many developed countries those aged 80 years and over constitute the fastest growing section of the population. Thewell-being and support of this group is therefore of increasing significance and the availability of family support for the oldest-old a matter of keen concern to policy makers. Studies of the social networks of older people, including the oldest-old, have shown that friendships are very important for well-being and morale (and so for health) and that those lacking close kin develop stronger relationships with more distant relatives and with friends (Wenger 1984, 1996). Nevertheless, friends play only a minor role in the provision of personal and domestic care to older people in need of assistance. In Britain, other Northern European countries and North America most of this care is provided by close relatives and to a lesser extent by professional care workers (Arber and Ginn 1990; Sundström 1994; Havens 1997).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Population Studies, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

    Emily Grundy

  2. Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics, UK

    Michael Murphy

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  1. Emily Grundy
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  2. Michael Murphy
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Jean-Marie Robine

  2. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Eileen M. Crimmins

  3. Rockefeller University, New York, USA

    Shiro Horiuchi

  4. Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Zeng Yi

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Grundy, E., Murphy, M. (2007). Marital Status and Family Support for the Oldest-Old in Great Britain. In: Robine, JM., Crimmins, E.M., Horiuchi, S., Yi, Z. (eds) Human Longevity, Individual Life Duration, and the Growth of the Oldest-Old Population. International Studies in Population, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4848-7_18

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