There is increasing recognition of the importance of
older adults in providing support to and maintaining
relationships with their nonkin peers. Social trends, such
as smaller family size, may reduce the role of family
members and increase the importance of nonkin peers in
providing help to the elderly. Relationships with peers
have a greater influence on the well-being of the elderly
than do interactions with family members. The purpose of
this study was to examine the association of perceived
reciprocity of aid exchange and relationship quality among
elderly female nonkin peers from a social exchange
perspective. A review of the literature led to the
hypotheses that perceived reciprocity of instrumental,
social, and total aid exchange would have a curvilinear
association with relationship quality.
The volunteer sample of 62 women over 60 years of age
participated in interviews tapping help given and received,
demographic data, and relationship quality. Respondents
were more likely to be widowed and to have lower incomes
than the general population; the average respondent's health
was fair to good. A series of three polynomial regression
analyses were used to determine if perceptions of
reciprocity in aid exchange had a linear or curvilinear
association with relationship quality.
Data suggest that respondents perceived a greater
exchange of socioemotional than instrumental help and
reported giving more help than they received. The perceived
amount of help exchanged was low compared to other studies
while perceived relationship quality was relatively high.
Regardless of the operationalization of reciprocity as a
linear or a curvilinear term, perceived reciprocity among
older female nonkin peers was not helpful in explaining
variance in relationship quality. This lack of association
held for perceived reciprocity in instrumental,
socioemotional, and total help exchanged. Limitations in
the study and possible reasons for the nonsignificant
outcomes are addressed. / Graduation date: 1993
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35955 |
| Date | 11 June 1992 |
| Creators | Martin, Sally S. |
| Contributors | Walker, Alexis J. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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