2003 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 104-115
Everyday communication behaviors of 130 elderly people in Japanese rural areas were analyzed through Hayashi's quantification method type 3. Results revealed that communication with family members was the main dimension, and that their four main types of social networks were consistent with those found in previous studies. There was a significant difference in the number of household members constituting the four types, but the private restricted type did not prove to have the least number of household members. The family dependent type had the least tendency to sympathize with people having committed suicide due problems with their family business, and this type also had the lowest level of anxiety. The local self-contained type had a significantly higher level of anxiety about the care they would receive in the future. An understanding of these types should aid in appropriate provision of social support for elderly people.
