The effects of marital and parental status on informal support and service utilization: A study of older Swedes living alone

Never-married individuals and childless persons living alone are at greater risk of having insufficient support in old age. This study investigated whether community-dwelling older people, living alone in an urban area of Sweden, benefit from having been previously married and having had children in terms of informal care received, and whether those without such filial support were compensated by formal services. The study sample consisted of 390 persons, 81 years and older, who were interviewed about family support and the use of public eldercare and market-based services. The study showed that parents had considerably higher odds of receiving informal support, whereas previously married individuals without children were no more likely to receive support than their never-married counterparts. Public home-help services did not fully buffer the lack of care among childless individuals. This indicates that even in an advanced welfare state like Sweden, children are assets for receipt of care in old age.