Support provided by elderly Italian people: a multilevel analysis

The characteristics of social networks determine the availability of social support, that is the aid individuals gain from their network members. Despite the literature usually investigate the importance of having support, the role of the support provided to alters had not yet received the same attention. In particular, the support elderly provide to their networks members shows an active participation in the social life, that is one dimension of the active ageing. Using data from 2009 edition of “Famiglia e Soggetti Sociali (FSS)” survey carried out by the Italian National Statistical Institute, we propose a Bayesian multilevel model to highlight the determinants of observing a provided support tie by elders to family or non-family members.