Informal support and the use of formal services by older Americans.

Older persons' use of formal services was studied in the context of one medium-sized metropolitan area in the Northeast, with a principal focus on the relation between formal service use and informal help. Most services are used by only a minority of older persons. There is some evidence of both compensatory processes (where family support substitutes for formal care) and bridging (where the informal network helps link the older person to services). Service users are distinguished partly by their greater functional disability. Use of some services is affected by indicators of predisposition, such as sociability and age identity. Enabling factors, such as availability of services or their accessibility by the respondent, have little effect.