GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The study sought to assess family income and its implications on the welfare of the elderly in Rivers State. An Expost-facto research design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted in Rivers State. The population of the study comprised all family heads and breadwinners in Rivers State. A stratified sampling technique was used to select five local government areas from the three senatorial districts of Rivers State, while 10 families were randomly selected from each of the local government areas. For the study, 2 family heads were selected from each of the families, giving a total of 300 family heads that constituted the sample size used for the study. An instrument titled "Family Income Questionnaire (FIQ)" was used for data collection. Face and content validation of the instrument was carried out by one expert in test, measurement, and evaluation to ensure that the instrument was accurate for the study. The Cronbach Alpha technique was used to determine the level of reliability of the instrument. In this case, the average reliability coefficient obtained was 0.84, and this was high enough to justify the use of the instrument. The researcher subjected the data generated for this study to appropriate statistical techniques such as percentage analysis for answering the research questions, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis was used to test the hypothesis. The test for significance was done at a 0.05 alpha level. The study concluded that the elderly population is one of the most vulnerable populations in terms of income revenue. Income levels are strongly associated with other demographic characteristics of the elderly. The socio-economic status and cultural influences affect the quality, quantity, and general welfare of the elderly dependably. One of the most common factors related to poor nutrition in the elderly is low socioeconomic status. It is obvious and uncontroversial that those with the poorest health status are individuals with high poverty rates or low income revenue. Based on the findings of the study, one of the recommendations made was that for family heads that are regular with their real income revenue, there is a need to track their spending and build up their savings, even if it takes time. Other recommendations were made in a series.