An Exploratory Study of How Older Cubans Cope with Difficult Living Conditions

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.11.2.0228
• Pages: 228-246
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Author: David L. Strug
• Subject Matter: coping,Cuba,economic vulnerability,difficult living conditions,older persons,policy

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 11.2 WInter 2019

ACADEMIC ARTICLE

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF HOW OLDER

CUBANS COPE WITH DIFFICULT LIVING

CONDITIONS

David L. Strug1

Yeshiva University, New York, USA

Abstract

Population aging is a concern to policy makers in Cuba where by 2025 there will

be more pensioners than workers. We describe a unique, exploratory study of older

Cubans 60+ years of age and how they cope with stress associated with economic

vulnerability and adverse living conditions. Many older persons have incomes too

low to provide a minimum standard of living. We address the following questions.

(1) What chronic environmental stressors do older persons face? (2) What strategies

do they employ to cope with these stressors? (3) What implications for policy follow

from these questions? We discuss qualitative data from interviews with 50 older

persons conducted in Havana in a mixed methods investigation. Most participants

appraised difficult living conditions as hard to change, which explains a high

prevalence of the use of avoidance coping strategies, including resignation. Policy

makers need to understand how older persons cope with adversity to determine

relevant service needs for this population.

Keywords: coping, Cuba, economic vulnerability, difficult living conditions, older

persons, policy

1 David L. Strug, Ph.D. is emeritus professor of social work at Yeshiva University in

New York City. He has conducted research in Cuba on older persons, on the develop-

ment of social work, on community health care, and on psychoanalysis. He co-edited

Community Health Care in Cuba and Love, Loss, and Longing: The Impact of Travel

Policy on Cuban-American Families. His email address is strug@yu.edu

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF HOW OLDER CUBANS COPE 229

IJCS Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/ijcs/

Introduction

Cuba’s fast-growing older population is a central concern of policy makers.

Pensioners will outnumber workers on the Island by 2025 (ONEI 2012b). This

will further strain Cuba’s already weak economy (Montes 2018). Many mem-

bers of this rapidly growing older population are economically vulnerable;

meaning they have incomes that are too low to provide a minimum standard of

living (Torres 1993). Older persons receive pensions that are insufficient to cover

basic needs, including for food. They depend on help from family, remittances

from abroad, or work in the private sector to survive. Older persons also experi-

ence difficult living conditions, including deteriorated housing.

We describe a unique, exploratory study of older individuals 60+ years of

age; and how they cope with stress associated with economic vulnerability and

difficult living conditions. Understanding how older persons cope with adversity

is a neglected topic. We are unaware of published studies on this subject. The

lack of publications on how older persons cope with adversity stands in contrast

to the growing literature on the demographics of aging (Chávez Negrín 2016).

Older persons are among the poorest population groups in the country

(Espina 2008). The introduction of structural economic reforms by Raúl Castro

in 2008 has further weakened the welfare state on which older persons depend,

exacerbating already difficult economic and living conditions for this population

(Strug 2014). Older persons experience intermittent scarcity of food and other

essential products in the marketplace, deteriorated housing conditions, inade-

quate public transportation, a weakened health care system, and the intermittent

unavailability of medicines (Leogrande 2017). Staples, such as bread, eggs and

chicken, were difficult to find at the end of 2018 (Gámez Torres 2018). This

situation has continued into 2019 (Ramirez Alvarez 2018). The noted Cuban

architect and urban planner Miguel Coyula describes Havana as structurally

aging and lacking in spaces, services, and housing options necessary for a healthy

quality of life for older persons (Coyula 2010: 27). We refer to the problems

noted above as environmental stressors.

We lack first-hand accounts of how older persons who experience environ-

mental stressors cope with such adversity. The aim of our exploratory research

was to gather information on this topic. We address the following questions in

this paper. (1) What environmental stressors do older persons face on a daily

basis? (2) What strategies do they employ to cope with these stressors? (3) What

policy implications follow from answers to these questions?

Information for this paper comes from interviews with 50 older persons inter-

viewed in Havana in a mixed methods investigation that collected both qualitative