Changing Family Structure and Care of the Older Persons in Nigeria

The paper examines the changes in family structure and care provision for the elderly in Nigeria. Essentially, the family structure is changing from extended nature to nuclear structure, with impact on the wellbeing of the older persons now and into the future. This paper, therefore examine the impact of Changes in family structures on care of the older persons. Data was gathered using questionnaire and multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 250 respondents. Simple percentages cross tabulations and chi-square statistics were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the changes in family structure are evident and occurred over time and that the quality of care the elderly received has diminished. The change in family structure also influence the patterns of care giving or support to aging parents, in addition the formal institution of care as substitute was disapproved by majority of the respondents. Such changes are due to modernization, industrialization, population explosion, urbanization, globalisation and nuclearization. The study, therefore, recommends that government should initiate policies to reduce the effect of changes in family structure and advises the family on the primacy of their care giving or support function.