Dislocation and Relocation of the Urban Elderly: Social Networks as Mediators of Relocation Stress

Abstract

The elderly represent an ever-increasing percentage of the population in urban core areas. Such commercial zones are prime targets for urban renewal and redevelopment. This paper deals with one segment of the elderly poor—the occupants of single rooms in cheap hotels and rooming houses—who live in such an urban core zone (located in a West Coast city) being markedly changed through redevelopment. An ongoing study of the consequences of forced relocation utilized a quasi-experimental design comparing premove and postmove measures of mental and physical health status, social networks and supports, and psychosocial adjustment for two groups of older persons. The experimental group (N = 62) was forced to relocate to other accommodations (in most cases other urban hotels), while the comparison group (N = 75) was not subject to relocation. A central hypothesis was that the older residents of single-room occupancy hotels would be particularly vulnerable to the impact of urban change and forced relocation. This hypothesis was not supported. The lack of serious impact on relocatee's mental and physical health and social adjustment can be related to morphological and functional characteristics of their personal social networks and to the particular relationship of these networks to the urban core zone.