Family life cycle and the use of physician services

Peter Joseph Cunningham, Purdue University

Abstract

This study concerns the effects of stage of the family life cycle upon individuals' use of physician services. Because families face unique social and economic circumstances at different stages in the life cycle, the propensity for individual family members to behave in certain ways changes from stage to stage. These changes in behavior include the way in which family members use certain goods and services, including physician services. Thus, the purpose of this research is to examine whether or not individuals are more predisposed to use physician services at certain stages of the family life cycle than others. Differences in the way that various social and economic factors affect physician use across the family life cycle are also investigated. The data for this study are drawn from the 1977 National Medical Care Expenditure Survey. The sample includes 20,213 individuals who are from two-generational families with children. Stages of the family life cycle are operationalized by the age and school placement of the oldest child and includes (1) the childbearing stage; (2) the preschool stage; (3) families with schoolchildren, and; (4) the adolescent stage. Other variables used in the analysis include two measures of physician use, family characteristics, health care resources, individual characteristics and health status. The results show that there are some differences in the way that individuals at different stages of the life cycle use physician services. Those at earlier stages of the life cycle are more likely to see a physician and to have more visits than those at later stages. The results also indicate that family characteristics and health care resources have different effects on physician use across stages of the family life cycle. With some exceptions, they tend to have stronger effects at later stages. The results of this study demonstrate the applicability of the concept of family life cycle in explaining the use of health services. Those in families at different stages of the life cycle do appear to use health services somewhat differently. Also, the way that certain social and economic factors enter into the decision to use physician services appears to change across stages of the family life cycle.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Eichhorn, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Sociology

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