Ageing, social capital and social support

In the context of broad family changes, the aims of this Submission are to highlight the importance of a range of social networks as key mechanisms of support and connectedness for the ageing Australian population, and to discuss key factors and issues associated with different levels of support networks available to elderly and ageing Australians. The Submission draws on a range of work conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, including primary data analysis using data from the Institute’s Families, Social Capital and Citizenship Project (FSAC) survey, focusing on the 433 respondents aged 55 years or over. Using a social capital framework, analysis of these data is used to inform the extent to which the ageing and elderly population across Australia are connected to a range of networks, including family, informal, civic and institutional ties. In sum, the findings indicate relatively high levels of connection among older people to family and kinship networks, friendship groups and neighbours, civic groups, as well as to institutions overall. Yet at the same time they highlight differences in the levels of social connections available to older persons across this range of social realms, which have important implications for the likely levels of support available to them as they age. This brief analysis points to the need to further investigate inequalities and differences in support networks, and the way these impact on the lives of older persons in the long term