Despite evidence of increasing diversification of family structures, little is known regarding implications of marital and parental status for access to social support in later life. Using data from Statistics Canada’s 2007 General Social Survey, this study assessed the impact of marital and parental status intersections on social support among adults aged 60 and older (n = 11,503). Two-stage probit regression models indicated that among those who were currently married or separated/divorced, childless individuals were more likely to report instrumental (domestic, transportation) and emotional support from people outside the household. Conversely, among never-married or widowed older adults, being childless was associated with reduced domestic support but without differences in other support domains. Findings suggest that marital and parental status intersections are not uniformly positive, neutral, or negative regarding implications for extra-household social support. Future work should address complexities of these relationships in order to better understand rapidly changing family structures.

Using data from a Canadian national sample, participation in three activities - going to public places, travel, and going on outings - in a sample of 4,258 respondents aged 55 and over is examined. OLS regression results indicate that the childless go to public places and travel as frequently as parents and go on outings more frequently than parents. Significant differences are also found for gender, marital status, health, and education. Logistic regression results indicate that the childless are more likely to seek companionship with friends and other relatives than are parents. However, gender and marital status are more often significant predictors of source of companionship than is parent status. We conclude that the childless negotiate unique social participation networks which ensure social participation outside the home.

In this study we examine the impact of parent status and marital status on (1) the foundations of social support networks and (2) who one turns to if help is required with activities of daily living. Data are taken from structured interviews with 678 community-dwelling persons aged 55 and over in London, Canada. This sample overrepresents the childless, single (never married), and divorced, thus ensuring adequate numbers in each category for data analysis. Our findings indicate that marital status is more influential than parent status regarding differences in the foundations of social support. However, for more specific forms of assistance, the divorced and single are more likely than the married, and the childless are more likely than parents to rely on formal support and paid help and less likely to rely on family. As well, for both marital and parent status, there are significant interactions with gender.

Data from the Survey on Ageing and Independence are employed to test the relationship between stress, integration in close family and friend networks, and well-being with a particular emphasis on parent status. The dependent variables used in this analysis are, whether individuals have a close family member or a close friend, the number of reported close relatives and friends, life stress, and the affect balance scale. It is hypothesized that the zero order relationship often found between parent status and well-being may be due to (1) a fundamental difference in the social support experiences of older parents and older childless individuals, (2) different levels of stress among these groups, or (3) the potential of friends to be of greater importance in assuring well-being in older age than family. Results show that childless persons are less likely than parents to have at least one close family member and they have fewer close relatives. No parent status differences are found regarding the likelihood of having a close friend or in the number of close friends individuals have. Compared to parents, childless individuals experience less life stress and similar levels of well-being. Finally, the nature of the stress-support-well-being relationship appears to be the same regardless of parent status.