Old Age and Autonomy: The Role of Service Systems and Intergenerational Family Solidarity. Primary data of the european study OASIS

Research Questions/Hypotheses:

1. The “substitution” hypothesis states that generous provision of welfare state services crowds out family help to older people
2. The “encouragement” hypothesis predicts the crowding in of family help
3. The hypothesis of “mixed responsibility” predicts a combination of help and support by families and services.

Research Design:

Fully Standardized Survey Instrument (provides question formulation and answer options); single measurement

Measurement Instruments/Apparatus:

The international OASIS questionnaire was drawn up in an intensive cooperation of all research teams participating in the OASIS study. The research teams decided to choose, wherever possible, instruments that were already well established and tested in several countries, cultures and research contexts. The number of instruments was reduced to those that emerge directly from the conceptual model. Shortened versions of research instruments, if existing, were preferred over long versions. The OASIS questionnaires used in the five countries all consist of two main parts: The standardised international survey instrument and some nation specific add-ins. The survey instrument contains questions in 15 research areas: Socio-demographic data, House and environment, Occupational activity and socio-economic status, Health and functional ability, Help and services, Children, Parents, Other family members, Social relationships, Norms and values, Preferences, Coping, Quality of life, Income, Miscellaneous. The main instruments included in the OASIS questionnaire are: the scale on physical functioning taken from the SF 36 Health Survey instrument (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992; Gladman, 1998); The Family Solidarity and Conflict scales (Mangen et al., 1988); Intergenerational Ambivalence (Luescher et al., 1999); Flexible Goal Adjustment scale (Brandstädter & Renner, 1990); Filial Responsibility Scales (Lee et al., 1994), The WHOQOL Quality of Life scale (WHOQOL Group, 1994a, WHOQOL Group, 1994b, WHOQOL Group, 1998a; World Health Organization, 1996; World Health Organization, 1998b), the PANAS – Positive and Negative Affect scale (Watson et al., 1988), as well as scales developed especially for the project like the Help and Use of Services.

Data Collection Method:

Data collection in the presence of an experimenter

• Individual Administration
• Paper and Pencil

Population:

The survey sample was drawn as a representative, stratified sample of the urban population of age 25 and older living in private households in the participating countries (Norway, England, Germany, Spain, Israel). People of age 75 and older were overrepresented in the survey sample to have a sufficient number of cases also for age-specific analyses. To adjust for this post-stratification weights were applied. Parameters for the entire population are presented. In Norway and Israel all three available urban areas were included. In Spain all urban units with 100,000 and more inhabitants were researched, while in England and Germany a selection of such urban areas was made (England: selection of six major regions with 120 wards which were considered as representative for the English urban areas, Germany: random selection of 31 urban regions within 16 states).

Survey Time Period:

Sample:

Stratified, systematic sample

Gender Distribution:

Depending on country (n per country approximately 1,200): Percentage of female subjects:
Norway: 59,6%
England: 68,3 %
Germany: 69,2 %
Spain: 65,5 %
Israel:54,1 %

Age Distribution: 25-102 years

Spatial Coverage (Country/Region/City): Norway, England, Germany, Spain, Israel

Subject Recruitment:

Sampling strategies in respect to participants differed in the participating countries. The goal was to optimise the sampling according to national best practice (Spain, Israel: random route procedure, German: random sampling based on municipality registries; Norway: mixture of random route and register sampling; England: use of electoral registers combined with the Monica coding system).

Sample Size:

6106 individuals

Return/Drop Out: