Focusing on the trend of urbanization and ageing in Chinese rural, this disquisition studies the changing of family support networks for Elderly from view of demonstration and theory. Comparing the structure and size of family support network between two communities in different level of urbanization, the study points out that urbanization weakens the functions of family support and influences the evaluation of daily life from The Aged. The study also discusses the reasons of change, and offers suggestion of social policy to establish a new model of family support network. This study shows a characteristic analysis method.
This study is based on the data of social survey held in urban and rural Xiamen from 1996 to 1998.It focuses on the differences in the structure and size of social support networks for the elderly between city and countryside,and explores the relation between the networks and daily life.It points out,1)family support is still the main part of the elderly soical support networks;2)the function of family members in the support network shows characteristic of community; 3)the situaton of family support in city differs from countryside,depending on the types of sub\|support networks and intervention of formal support;4)the multiplex of social support is helpful for improving the quality of elderly life.This study also discusses some points of view in theory of social support network,policy for elderly and the indexes of measure.
