| As people advance into old age, they become increasingly dependent on others. Normative beliefs about providing assistance to older persons provide guidelines with which people make decisions about utilizing public resources, inform the development and application of public policy, and provide parameters within which people make decisions about helping older persons. However, few researchers have directly examined normative beliefs regarding obligations to assist older persons. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine normative obligations of older person to provide for their own needs, of adult (step) children to provide for the needs of their aging (step) parents, and of the government to provide assistance to older persons. In particular, I examined how ideological beliefs and contextual circumstances guided how people constructed normative obligations to assist older persons. Trained telephone interviewers collected data. Missouri residents who were over 40 years old were eligible to participate. Altogether, 270 out of 662 eligible persons who were contacted completed interviews. Results indicated that ideological beliefs were better predictors of normative obligations than contextual variables. Future research should reflect the complex relations among ideological beliefs, contexts, and normative obligation beliefs. Future researchers should consider how ideological beliefs and contextual circumstances are related to felt obligations and how people make decisions about helping older family members. |
