The Utilization of Social and Recreational Services by the Elderly: A Case Study of Northwestern Ohio

This research is a study of the utilization of social and recreational services by a sample or urban, small town, and rural elderly in northwestern Ohio. The purpose of the research is to identify those specific socioeconomic characteristics which distinguish social service users from non-users. The logistic regression procedure is used to analyze the data. The elderly who are most likely to use the services are those persons who are 75 to 84 years of age, drive, have an income below $4000 or above $10,000, are female, and are in good health. The general applicability of Anderson's model is demonstrated and the importance of enabling and predisposing factors in the prediction of service use is significant. However, location is not a key variable in explaining service use.