Distance and Contacts: Interactions of Black Urban Elderly Adults with Family and Friends

Distance is the major factor determining the frequency of social interaction with family and friends for elderly whites. Age, sex, marital status, length of residence, and income also affect the number of social contacts. These relationships have not been studied for elderly blacks. Utilizing data from a survey of 655 black urban residents 60 years old and older, this study investigated contacts with family and friends. The major finding was that the neighborhood is an important place for socializing with both family and friends for this population as is the case for working-class white elderly adults. A surprising finding is that, whereas social contacts increase with higher income for working-class elderly whites, for these black elderly adults who are of the working class and poor, social contacts decrease with higher income.