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Receipt of emotional support among rural South African adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2018

Elyse A. Jennings ,
Nolwazi Mkhwanazi  and
Lisa Berkman
Elyse A. Jennings*
Affiliation:
Center for Population and Development Studies, T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
Nolwazi Mkhwanazi
Affiliation:
Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Lisa Berkman
Affiliation:
Center for Population and Development Studies, T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
*Corresponding author. Email: ejennings@hsph.harvard.edu
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Abstract

As the world undergoes rapid ageing, informal support from friends and relatives is becoming especially important among older adults in middle- and low-income countries, where formalised social protections may be limited. We use new data from a cohort of adults aged 40 and older in rural South Africa to explore how receipt of emotional support differs by gender and marital status. Our findings suggest that women are more likely to get emotional support than men and have more sources of support. Moreover, women are more likely to get emotional support from relatives, whereas men are more likely to get support from friends. In regard to marital status, married people are more likely to get emotional support and have more sources of support than people who are not married. However, separated/divorced and widowed people are more likely to get emotional support from relatives and have more sources of non-spousal support than married people. These findings point towards gaps in informal systems of support, and the particular importance of considering men and unmarried (especially never-married) people when designing policies to offer social protections to older populations.

Keywords

social supportemotional supportSouth Africamarriageold age
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 40 , Issue 5 , May 2020 , pp. 1039 - 1063
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

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