RELATIONSHIPS OF PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT AND SELF-DISCLOSURE TO THE MORALE OF OLDER WOMEN.
Contributors: New York University.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 131
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The level of morale of older people is one indicator of the quality of life in the later years, and its acquisition and maintenance is one of the more enduring of life's tasks. In this study, morale is viewed as evolving in a person through the combination of the person and the environment. Two explanatory variables--perceived social support and self-disclosure--were examined in relationship to morale.

Respondents consisted of 74 women volunteers, between the ages of 65 and 86, who attended three senior centers in a large urban area. Data were generated through four questionnaires and were analyzed using correlational and multiple regression techniques. The hypotheses were: (1) There is a positive relationship between perceived social support and morale in older women; (b) there is a positive relationship between self-disclosure and morale in older women; and (c) perceived social support and self-disclosure together will be better predictors of morale in older women than either single variable alone.

Findings in relation to each of the hypotheses were as follows: (a) There was a significant positive relationship between perceived social support and morale in older women; (b) there was not a significant relationship between self-disclosure and morale in older women; and (c) the combination of perceived social support and self-disclosure together were not better predictors of morale in older women than either single variable alone. A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that perceived social support alone was the best predictor of morale. Additional findings included an inverse relationship between age and morale, and positive relationships among closeness of the family system, satisfaction with living situation, satisfaction with housing, organizational membership, church/synagogue attendance, and morale.

Based on the results of the study, implications were discussed and recommendations for future research were suggested.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-03, Section: B, page: 0702.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, 1987.

School code: 0146.