Understanding Socio-familial Security and Level of Perceived Social Satisfaction Among the Aged People: A Case-study of Select Districts in West Bengal, India

Wellbeing in socio-familial living is crucial for the elderly. Being susceptible to several non-economic social vulnerabilities in living, their socio-familial security and perceived familial satisfaction need to be addressed. Capturing different attributes of socio-familial life, a case-study is designed on Barasat and Balurghat subdivisions of West Bengal. Respondents’ opinions are mostly recorded in Likert Scale from which elderly in wellbeing state is obtained and further aggregating their responses gives the measure of Socio-familial Security Index. The study also considers perception on socio-familial satisfaction reflecting quality of living. The study finds larger percent of elderly of Barasat in top tier of index with relatively better extent of security than Balurghat. Also, most of the elderly in Barasat subdivision perceived themselves to be moderately satisfied, followed by those highly satisfied. In Balurghat elderly mostly perceive moderate satisfaction and are followed by lower satisfaction. Higher socio-familial security can’t only ensure higher extent of satisfaction, although low-level security leads to lower satisfaction and deteriorates more for the elderly widowed women. Overall, elderly needs greater attention within families with additional monitoring by NGOs and State.