Stability and Changes in Living Arrangement Among Unmarried Older Persons

Abstract

Using data from the first two waves of the Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), this study examined (1) housing characteristics of elders by their baseline living arrangements: living alone, with adult children/grandchildren, and with others; and (2) whether the baseline housing characteristics were likely to be directly or indirectly associated with the subsequent stability or changes in independent living arrangement over a two-year period. Housing characteristics included were ownership status, features of structural amenities, and housing type (senior housing, with or without supportive services, and housing not specifically for seniors), and elders' self-ratings of the physical condition of their housing and the safety of their neighborhood. The results of hierarchical multinomial logistic regression analysis show that these housing variables did not mediate the direct effect of the elders' health status on their transition into coresidence with children/other relatives or into nursing homes. Only the ownership status and the housing type had small direct effects on the elders' transition into or long stay in nursing homes. Further research on the effect of physical environmental factors on older persons' independent versus coresidential living arrangements is called for.