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Stability and Change in the Perceived Social Support of Older Taiwanese Adults

¹ Polisher Research Institute, Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life, North Wales, Pennsylvania.
² Department of Sociology
³ Office of Population Research, Princeton University, New Jersey.
⁴ Center for Population and Health, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
⁵ Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Taiwan, Republic of China.

Address correspondence to Jennifer C. Cornman, Polisher Research Institute, Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life, 1425 Horsham Rd., North Wales, PA. 19454. E-mail: jcornman{at}abramsoncenter.org

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to examine stability and change in Taiwanese elders' perceptions about the availability of social support and the sociodemographic and cultural factors associated with change.

Methods. This study uses data from four waves of the Survey of Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan that spans a 10-year period and employs latent growth curve models to examine trajectories of perceived support and the sociocultural factors that may explain variability in baseline levels of support and variability in changes in support as respondents age.

Results. Perceptions about social support appear to follow a linear trajectory across age, with significant variation in baseline perceptions and in patterns of change in perceived support across the sample. Sociocultural factors primarily explain differences in initial levels of support but also have some effect on changes in support.

Discussion. Despite the increasing pressures and demands on adult children's time that are associated with social and economic development, the elderly in Taiwan on average feel supported by their social networks, with the perceived availability of support increasing with age.