Older Adults’ Social Support and its Effect on Their Everyday Self-maintenance Activities: Findings from the Household Survey of Urban Lahore-Pakistan

Given the increasing frailty and disability with age, social networks and social support play cardinal role in the quality of life of older people in societies where formal support and social protection programs are not available. The present paper examines the social networks and the support available for the older people who suffered from various chronic conditions across different socio-economic neighborhoods of urban Lahore, Pakistan. The data were gathered in survey of households from six urban localities in September 2006 to accomplish PhD research, “Management of Chronic Conditions as Predictor of Healthy Ageing: An Analysis of Urban Population, Lahore, Pakistan”. Affliction with chronic conditions and widowhood statuses were important determinants of support patterns in the sample population. Results of Univariate analysis indicated that older adults’ social supporthad significant ffect on their level of disability (everyday self-maintenance activities). Although older people were embedded in close networks, a considerable proportion of them received occasional instrumental and emotional support from their close ones, particularly family members. Increase in nucleated families and small sizes of families may mar availability of social support for the older people in the years to come. It underscores the need to devise future strategies to develop social protection programs for older people in Pakistan.