If I Can’t Take Care of Myself, Who Will
Reflections on Older Israeli Childless Men
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6452589 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Smadar Freiberg (Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University Smadar Freiberg, MSW, is social worker and doctoral student, , Ramat Gan 52900, Israel), L Ayalon (0000-0003-3339-7879, Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University Liat Ayalon, PhD, is professor, , Ramat Gan, Israel) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 321-330 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-8046 • E-ISSN: 1545-6846 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/sw/swaf034 |
| PMID | 40847511 |
| OpenAlex | W4413473015 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
The social work profession has neglected the population of aging men in both research and practice. Scholars and practitioners have therefore been called upon to explore subgroups within this population and identify the opportunities and challenges they face. The present research meets this call by investigating nine Israeli childless older men (COM), using a multicase qualitative approach and by focusing on their experience of aging without children and their support sources. The authors’ findings suggest three themes: (1) an attitude of self-reliance, (2) lack of informal support, and (3) the importance of formal social safety nets. These are discussed within the Israeli social context of ideal masculinity. The authors also examine the applicability of the hierarchical-compensatory model to participants’ chain of support. The findings add a key theoretical factor to the hierarchical model, namely the degree of caring attributed to the helper, whether formal or informal. The authors therefore recommend that formal and informal care relationships be analyzed not only across the axis of availability or actual need but also across the emotional axis of being meaningful to someone. This article concludes with implications for theory, practice, and policy
Older people · Child Welfare and Adoption · Family Support in Illness · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology
Understanding the care and support needs of older people
Gender Differences in Loneliness Over Time
Relevance of Gender and Social Support in Self-Rated Health and Life Satisfaction in Elderly Spanish People
Ideas about childbearing among childless men
The crisis in achieving a sense of manhood among Israeli veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress symptoms
Men’s Mental Health Services
Choosing motherhood? Agency and regret within reproduction and mothering retrospective accounts
Meeting the Needs of Older Men
Education, Gender, and Cohort Fertility in the Nordic Countries
Childlessness and social and emotional loneliness in middle and later life
Mortality differentials among Israeli men
Childlessness and Psychological Well-Being in Context
Men, Masculinities, and Aging
Never-aging Stories
Childlessness and Parenthood in Two Centuries
Characteristics of Older Childless Persons and Parents
Roads Less Taken
Parenthood, Marital Status, and Well-Being in Later Life
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |