Ways People can Give Support to the Elderly in the Society (Essay Sample)

Functions of Social Support
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Maria's daughter stops by to see her every day on her way home from work, preparing her dinner and meals for the next day, which would be considered as instrumental support. Her daughter does this because she believes her mother deserves a decent care and living because of her old age (Umberson, Crosnoe, & Reczek, 2010). This is essential as it reduces stress to Maria who lives alone and cannot manage home chores by herself. She goes ahead and cleans the house and ensures everything is in order before she leaves home to see her kids.
Maria also receives emotional support from her daughter who expresses, love, empathy, care and trust. This makes Maria have hope that she still has someone who provides love and care for listening to her during happy moments as well as hard times. By this Maria can open up and share openly with her daughter on important issues that touches her life. In many cases, when old age citizens are given emotional support from their close friends and family members, they tend to have a peace of minds as they are given a listening ear when they face day-to-day challenges (Charles, & Carstensen, 2010).
What the other type of support Maria receives from her daughter is appraisal support. This is possible by providing her mother with information that is important for self-evaluation. Appraisal support helps in positively acknowledging the role our parents in raising us u...