Abstract:

The demographic background of the elderly plays a pivotal role in the health and health related aspects of the old age population. In India, where the family has an obligation to care for the elderly, the consequences of rapid declines in fertility and mortality on elderly makes living arrangements an important issue in the field of population and development. The study was conducted in the context of Kerala with the purpose of finding out the influence of family structure on the health of the aged. The data was collected through field work and it was a descriptive type of study. The analysis was carried out with definite dependent and independent variables. The study shows that the family size plays an important role in the deterioration health of the aged, the perception about their health condition, the care during their illness. It was also clear from the study that feeling of loneliness and ability of adjustment with the family members varies significantly with the family size. The analysis shows that the disease structure particularly the prevalence of both communicable, non-communicable diseases and occurrence of multiple diseases are more prone to those who belong to large families.

Keywords: Family structure, Ageing process, Geriatric health, Elderly, Old age, Living arrangements.

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