To define what a care giving network is, would be to say that it is the care for elderly persons based on how an elderly is taken care of, and by whom they are given the care from. So many factors affect this situation though. Situations that may depend on this decision may include marital status, age, and what not. The information at hand though, is how marital status affects the decision on care for these elderly. This kind of information leads to some formulated hypotheses. The first of three hypotheses is the task-specificity hypothesis, then the substitution hypothesis, and finally supplementation.

It has been formed universally though that these three hypotheses have been known to play a factor in the characteristics fo

The task-specify hypothesis explains the different functions provided by family, formal helpers, friends, in the support of providing care. This hypothesis takes a look at the connection between the relationships of actors and people outside the receiver of care giving. The hypothesis looks at the lifestyles, the contact, the connections, and the relationships between the provider and the receiver. This hypothesis includes a substitution principle, which is termed to say that when primary service is not available, a secondary source is brought in to give care.

The substitution hypothesis is brought in to play when the immediate relatives to the care receivers are not around or not available. If this is the case, then substitutes are brought in to play the absent roles of what the relatives would be playing. The

Some common words found in the essay are:
Marital Status, care giving, marital status, care hypothesis, care giving hypothesis, Care Giving, care elderly, substitution hypothesis, informal support, brought play, giving hypothesis, formal system,
Approximate Word count = 554
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)