CHANGES AND ETHNICITY IN CARING RELATIONSHIPS FOR THE ELDERLY PEOPLE IN A MIDDLE-SIZED TOWN IN AMERICAN MIDWEST,1850-1985.

本研究旨在通过揭示1850 - 1895年美国中西部一个中等城镇及其周边农业区的欧美人对老年人的照顾关系的历史变化，为老龄化社会的基础知识的发展做出贡献。在方法上，美国人口普查原始时间表被处理成计算机数据库，并与1850年至1910年的其他历史文件进行分析，1984年至1986年的人类学实地研究的家族史的民族志数据被用来分析20世纪20年代至80年代的照顾模式的变化。结果显示，在19世纪后半叶，该市60岁以上的人口比例从1.5%稳步上升<th>至9%，60岁以上的老人住宅比例也从8.1%上升至30.8%。在有60岁及以上老年人的家庭中：单身老年户主的比例从1860年的3.4%变化到1910年的9.7%;老年夫妇的比例在10%至20%之间波动。多年来，有子女的老年父母的比例约为70%。与其他族群相比，美国籍老人更倾向于与非亲属同住。波兰人，被称为“后来者”，很快变得与美国人相似，增加了单身家庭和没有同居者的已婚夫妇的家庭数量。然而，与美国人不同的是，波兰儿童在离开父母的房子后，在同一个城镇或社区内找到房子建立自己的家庭。这些结果与我们的民族志研究结果相一致。

This study aims to contribute to the development of basic knowledge on aging society by revealing hitorical changes from 1850 to 1895 in caring relationships for the elderly among Euro-Americans in a middle-sized town and its surrounding farming area in Midweat, U.S.It identifies similarities and differences in such relationships among people of differnt ethnic backgrounds such as Yankee, Norwegian and Polish. Methodologically U.S.Census original schedules were processed into computer database and analyzed with other historical documents from 1850 to 1910, and ethnographic data of family histories from anthropoligical field research 1984-86 were used to analyze changes in caring patterns from 1920s to 1980s. The results are that the town's population of 60 years old and over steadily increased its proportion throughout the last half of the 19^<th> century from 1.5% to 9%, and that the ratio of houses with the elderly of 60 years old and over also increased from 8.1% to 30.8%. Among the families with the elderly of 60 years old and over : the proportion of the single elderly family head changed from 3.4% in1860 to 9.7% in 1910 ; the proportion of elderly couple fluctuated between 10% and 20%. The proportion of the elderly parent (s) with child (ren) was about 70% throughout the years. Yankee elderly people tended to live with non-kin member in the same household than those of other ethnic groups. Polish people, called "late-comers, " quickly became similar to Yankee people by increasing the number of household with single family haed and with married couple without any cohabitants. However, unlike Yankee people, Polish children found houses within the same town or neighborhood to establish their own families after leaving their parent's house. These results are accorded with findings from our ethnographic research.