Abstract
Throughout most of human history, the family has been both the primary context of social integration for aged individuals and the principal provider of economic support and physical assistance to the elderly in need. Within the lifetime of those Americans now approaching old age, however, a number of dramatic changes have occurred in social structure and cultureāchanges that promise to alter traditional assumptions concerning aging, the family, and social supports in meeting the challenges of old age.
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Treas, J., Bengtson, V.L. (1987). The Family in Later Years. In: Sussman, M.B., Steinmetz, S.K. (eds) Handbook of Marriage and the Family. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7151-3_23
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