ABSTRACT
As the examples just given illustrate, responsibility is the hot button political and social issue of the 1990s (Bengtson & Achenbaum, 1993; Harmon, 1995; Lerner & Mikula, 1994). Historically, responsibilities for the care and support of dependent individuals have been seen as belonging primarily to families (Angel & Angel, 1997), particularly to women in families (Hooyman & Gonyea, 1995; Wood, 1994), but in this century what were once seen as family obligations and duties have been assumed increasingly by governmental bodies that may no longer want these responsibilities (Harmon, 1995). The debate between public versus private (i.e., personal and familial) responsibility for the young, the dependent elderly, and the infirm, is not new, but demographic and social changes in recent years have made the issue of who will take care of dependent family members an increasingly important topic. Throughout the industrialized nations of the world populations are aging, fertility patterns are changing, and family structures are becoming increasingly diverse. At the same time, national and local governments are trying to downsize by cutting back on what they do. Many services that once were provided by governmental agencies are either privatized (transferred to private organizations) or redefined by public officials as personal and familial duties rather than as public obligations (Harmon, 1995; Lerner & Mikula, 1994; Moroney, 1986).
