Ishare-Care For Old

FAMILY SUPPORT FOR THE AGED

At any age, the family provides the individual the emotional, social, and economic support (Soldo and Agree, 1988). The ability of the aged persons to cope with the changes in health, income,social activities, etc..at the older ages, depends to a great extent on the support the person gets from his/ her family members. This support, it may be said, is more culturally based rather than development dependent. For instance, in India, the cultural values emphasize that the elderly members of the family be treated with honor and respect. In order to examine what the situation is in practice the data collected from 4 villages in Dharwad taluk of Dharwad district in Karnataka

State of India, are analyzed and the results are presented in this and sub-sequent sections of the paper. (See Wadakannavar, 1992 ).

There were 669 households in the study area, with an average size of 5.8 persons per household. The majority of the households had a size of (3 - 5) persons (41%). Veerashaivas (also called Lingayats) - a socially better off community in India, formed the largest section of the society (47% of the population) in the study area. The main occupation of four-fifths of

households was agriculture. About a quarter of households did not own any agriculture land, while only one-sixth of the households owned 10 acres or more of agricultural land. Among the population in this area, 46% was literate, with 60% literates among males and 31% literates among females.

In the study villages, 253 aged persons (defined as persons aged 60 years and above) were identified. Among these, 211 aged persons : 118 males and 93 females were succe