The support systems of older people: A test of the exchange paradigm.

This article tests the efficacy of the exchange paradigm for explaining the distribution of feelings of obligation and life satisfaction among 1,346 persons interviewed in the Social Security Administration's 1977 Midwestern Retirement Community Study. A simple correlational analysis was employed with these data. No substantive support is provided for the exchange paradigm as presented by Homans, Adams, and Dowd. Only the support given by older respondents in their primary relationships seems to be systematically and inversely related to life satisfaction. And, even these correlations are quite modest by any standard. The advantages of formalizing the exchange theory are discussed. In addition, problems of operationalization as well as conceptual and theoretical problems are addressed in an attempt to facilitate replication and reformulation by other researchers.