ABSTRACT
Variation in the use of formal health services is contingent upon a variety of factors. Research has shown that the use of personal health care services is determined by individuals’ responses to their health and illness levels, as well as preconditioned by demographic, social structural, psychological, familial and community resources, and health care organizational factors. In the general population, these correlates of health service utilization have been studied by many researchers over the past 20 years. Recently there has been an increased focus in the study of the aged population, including multivariate analyses of data gathered from both community and nationwide health surveys (Arling 1985; Branch et al. 1981; Coulton and Frost 1982; Evashwick et al. 1984; Eve 1982b; Wan and Odell 1981; Wan 1982a; Wan and Arling 1983; Wolinsky et al. 1983; Wolinsky and Coe 1984).
