ABSTRACT
To measure utilization of formal social supports, respondents were presented with a list of community services often used by older people and asked to indicate for each whether or not they had used the service. The instrument used in the primary study was first used and tested in 1970 in the study, "The Elderly in the Inner City of New York". The population from which the sample was drawn included all 1,570 participants of the original study. Comparisons were done between US mainland-born Blacks and West Indian-born Blacks, using one-way ANOVA for interval or ratio level variables and Chi-square tests for nominal level variables. Andersen's conceptual framework classifies variables into three categories; predisposing, enabling, and need variables. Two major categories of enabling factors were utilized, those pertaining to family and living arrangements and those involving community participation.
