Scanned using Book ScanCenter 5033

0 downloads 0 Views 3MB Size Report
own practice interviews and discussed their experiences with the ..... the self-reported actions (Kahana & Midlarsky,'«ISSB - 15) Midlarsky S Kahana ...... number helped and then answer questions about their helping and then answer.
altruism and helping among the elderly

FINAL REPORT ROl AG 03069-01

Elizabeth Midlarsky, Ph. D. Principal Investigator Eva Kahana, Ph. D. Co-Principal Investigator''

Inquiries should be directed to Elizabeth Midlarsky, Ph, D. Center for the Study of Developmént and Aging University of Detroit Detroit, Michigan 48221

ALTRUISM AND HELPING AMONG THE ELDERLY TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I.

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF PROGRESS A. B.

REVIEW OF OBJECTIVES . . ................................................................... PROGRESS TOWARD STUDY GOALS DURING THE THREE PROJECT YEARS ... 1. Staffing Patterns and Division of Labor ........................... 2. Brief Summary of Methodology a. Interviewer Selection and Training ................................ b. Sampl ing......................................................................................... c. Interview Procedures ............................................................... d. Data Processing........................................................................ 3. The Variables and Their Measurement .................................... a. Heal th/FInances/Demographic Data.................................... b. Personality Variables .... ........................................ c. Situational Variables .......................................................... d. Measures of Helping.............................................................. e. Measures of Well-Being......................................................... OTHER STUDIES..............................................................................................

3 ^ 5 7 7 8 8 10 11 11 12

RESULTS A. DESCRIPTIVE DATA......................................................................................... 1. The Sample: Demographic Variables ......................................... 2. Personality Variables'.'............................................................... 3. Situational Variables ................................................................... k. Helping Behavior ............................................................................ a. Quantitative Descriptive Data on Helping .................. b. Responses to Open-Ended Questions on Helping ... B. MULTIVARIATE ANALYSES OF SURVEY DATA ............................................. l. Preliminary Regression Analyses ............................................. 2. Path Analyses...................... 3. Other Analyses................................................................................ a. Neighborly Helpers . . . . ................................................. b. Family Helpers .. ;.................. 'l........................................... c. The Volunteers . . ‘................................................................... C. RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ...................................................... D. REFERENCES.......................................................................................................

12 13 l8 l8 19 19 23 27 27 29 36 3& 37 37 37 ^6

C. I I.

1 2

III. DISSEMINATION OF PROJECT RESULTS A. B. C. D.

PUBLICATIONS.................................................................................................. IN PRESS........................................................................................................... ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS CONTEMPLATED AS A RESULT OF THE GRANT................................................................... PRESENTATIONS..............................................................................................

^9 hS hS 5©

ALTRUISM AND HELPING AMONG THE ELDERLY Elizabeth Midlarsky and Eva Kahana FINAL REPORT !

ROl AG 03068-01 Ï

1.

A.

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF PROGRESS

REVIEW OF OBJECTIVES

This study was designed to explore personal and situational ante­ cedents, the nature, and the psychosocial outcomes of helping behavior for elderly persons. It aimed to address three primary research questions : 1.

What are the characteristics of helping behavior among the

aged? 2. What are the personal, motivational, and situational antecedents of helping by elderly persons? 3. What are the relationships among amount and type of helping, the proposed antecedents of helping, and positive psychosocial outcomes? As the literature on altruism and prosociäl behavior has traditionally investigated helping by yoünger individuals, this v>ias one of the first studies to assess the generalization of empirical results regarding the antecedents of helping to older persons. Indeed, while helping behavior^ by others toward the elderly has been the subject of numerous investigations, there have been almost no studies dealing with prosocial behavior among older persons, despite the importance of this construct in psychology, and its potential relevance in the life of the aged. In accordance with the original proposal, we planned to consider helping primarily in two contexts considered to be of highest salience in the -life of the elderly--the extended family and the residential setting. Participants were persons 65 years of age and older (a) residing in standard community residences, and having children, grandchildren, and/or greatarandchildren in the Detroit metropolitan area, and (b) living in senior citizens' residences. Interviews were conducted to assess the determinants and consequences of helping for the elderly helper. In addition, the study aimed to specify and test a causal model directed toward understanding the relative Impact of personal and situational antecedents on different types and dimensions of heloing, and on psychosocial outcomes for the

2 helper. In accordance with this model, it was anticipated that elderly persons for whom helping is a high frequency activity derive psychosocial benefits from making contributions to others, which go far beyond the traditional expectations of exchange. Helping’ in the context of the family, the community, or as a "good neighbor" was expected to result in subjective social integration, as well as enhanced self-esteem and morale.

B.

PROGRESS TOWARD STUDY GOALS DURING THE THREE PROJECT YEARS 1.

Staffing Patterns and Division of Labor

This project has been an interdisciplinary effort, involving both psychological and sociological concepts and approaches, and also demanding expertise in gerontology', research methodology and statistics. The project staff have reflected this interdisciplinary orientation. Thus, Elizabeth Midlarsky, principal investigator, has brought a psychological perspective to the project. She has been responsible for overall staff selection, supervision and administrative functions, and has been involved in the day-to-day operation of every phase of the project, Eva Kahana, co-principal Investigator, has brought the skills and perspectives of a sociologist to the project, and has taken major responsibility for large portions of the instrument development and refinement, the selection of research sites, and the conceptualization and implementation of every phase of the project. The two co-principal investigators have collaborated closely in dissemination efforts, including both publications and presentations which have emerged from the project thus far. They are continuing this work in the form of several papers slated to be submitted for publication in the near future, as- well as in regard to their forthcoming book with Sage Publications, entitled For the Sake of Others Altruism and Helping Among the Elderly. The project has been fortunate to employ^ group of talented and enthusiastic students, who invested themselves in their work on the project beyond the requirements for competent performance of their job. Most of the individuals who served as interviewers were enrolled in Elizabeth Midlarsky's classes in Interviewing and Psychotherapy, and were recruited on the basis of advance knowledge of their background and aptitude in this area. Other interviewers were added who had been excellent students and employees of Eva Kahana on a different project. Among the individuals who participated on the project were Vera McQuade,' Catherine Khaghani, Jacqueline Oliphant, Sandra Pecora, Elizabeth Ross, Sara Cilano and Shirley Christian. In addition to the interview data collected by the students and other staff, the co-principal Investi­ gators joined the interviewers at each interview site, and conducted one or more Interviews at each In order to better comprehend the patterns of helping, and their situational and personal contexts. We feel very pleased by the quality of the data collected in this manner.

3

In addition to those staff who worked primarily on data collection and preparation, several individuals were employed to provide secretarial assistance, and assistance with the data processing and analysis. Most notable were the efforts of Evelyn O'Keefe and Judith Blue, who provided secretarial support; Howard Brubaker, who helped to supervise the data preparation efforts, and Drs. Edmund and Janet Sheerln, who participated in developing the interview format. Also of great importance to the project were the efforts of Drs. Delbert Elliott and David Huizinga, who provided consultation regarding conceptual‘aspects of the data analyses, and of Robin Corley, a doctoral student in psychology, who provided outstanding technical assistance throughout the analysis of project data. Because of the many competing demands on our staff members, most could only devote relatively limited amounts of time to the project. The large number of part-time staff resulted in considerable administrative work. Nevertheless, the project was conducted in the context of a closely cooperating, interdisciplinary team. Others provided assistance and consultation to the project, as well. Dr. Mary Elizabeth Hannah provided insights from ecological psychology which, combined with Dr. Eva Kahana's widely-respected expertise In personal-environment fit, enriched the conceptualization and measurement of possible environmental antecedents of helping and of psychosocial well-being. Dr. Boaz Kahana, a clinical psychologist, provided excellent consultation which supplemented Elizabeth Midlarsky's own input regarding the relationships of helping behavior and personality factors to the mental health of our older respondents. Dr. Manus I. Midlarsky, a quantitative political scientist with skills in mathematical modeling and multivariate analysis, has provided contextual support and ongoing consultation in data analysis on an as-needed basis. 2.

Brief Summary of Methodology a.

Interviewer Selection and Training

Considerable effort was devoted to the selection and training of interviewers for participation in this study. As noted above, many of the interviewers had been our students, and we had the opportunity to observe their interviewing skill prior to participation in this project. In addition to general training in interviewing, each individual was specifically trained for his or her role in the current study. Training sessions were held by the co-principal investigators in which the project was described, and theoretical aspects and implications of various segments of the interview were discussed. In addition, interviewers were individually trained in sessions in which skills for probing and eliciting responses about helping were emphasized. Training was also conducted in the establishment of rapport with elderly persons, role-playing and the maintenance of standardized administration. Training sessions were followed up by observation of someone administering an interview. Subsequently, trainees conducted their

k own practice interviews and discussed their experiences with the training staff. Their written interviews were then critiqued and thoroughly discussed. Continual feedback and Interaction with the principal Investigators were available on a daily basis throughout the project period. It may be noted that the Co-PIs also participated in the initial questionnaire administration phases. This was an invaluable experience for. understanding which sections were most problematic or difficult for respondents. Through intensive testing of this sort, and through the experiences of our interviewers, we were able to refine several of the measures, explain more clearly and simply how to complete the questionnaire, and be more attuned to the types of problems which might arise.

b.

Samp'l ing

The sample proposed for this study was to consist of ^00 older individuals, 200 randomly chosen from the general community, and 200 from senior housing sites (see Table 1). In order to insure an appropriate representation of heterogeneous characteristics, we intended to include four communities in the Detroit metropolitan area—Detroit, Ferndale, Clawson, and Royal Oak, Michigan. However, we became aware of a Housing Directory for Senior Citizens prepared by the Detroit Public Library in 1979“80, after the onset of the project period. With the help of Information in this directory, we added Southfield, Michigan as one of our sampling sites, and decided not to sample from Ferndale. As we noted in our proposal, each of the communities in the Detroit area maintains a separate voter's' registration list, which contains information about the age and address of each voter. Our primary means for drawing the sample was to randomly select potential respondents from the separate voter's registration lists maintained by each community, each of which contains information about the age and address of each voter. Furthermore, special cluster directories available through the telephone company permitted us to develop comparable lists of seniors living in residences, and in standard housing arrangements. Once these lists were compiled, we had the information necessary to call potential respondents, and to ask our brief screening questions, which could then be supplemented with face-to-face screening. The final sampling plan was also supplemented in a manner not described in the original proposal. In order to include persons who may not have fallen into the original sample because they were not represented in either the voter's registration lists or the cluster directories, we Instituted another procedure. This involved a door-todoor screening of a subset of potential respondents, relying on the use of household composition forms included in our standard face sheets.

5 I

5

By employing this technique, we feel that we had the opportunity to Include persons who may be non-voters, new community residents, who have no telephones or may have uniIsted- telephone numbers. In addition, we, made every effort to Include as many males as possible In each of the study subsamples. These techniques, although somewhat cumbersome and time consuming were effective. Our willingness to call potential respondents back up to five times led to the ability to obtain the cooperation of the vast preponderance of individuals through our random sampling procedures. The employment of screening questions by empathie and well-trained interviewers resulted in an exceptionally small number of interviews "broken off" by respondents (a total of 8, In a sample of ^OO).

Table 1 SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF SAMPLE DESIGN Source Family Helper Sample N = 200

Residential Helper Sample N = 200

Random sample of voter registration lists (screened for those with children, grandchildren and/or ' great-grandchildren living in the area) in selected communities

Random sample (from voter registration lists) of persons residing in senior citizen housing sites in selected communities