Residential Transitions Research Articles

Nowhere to Launch? County-Level Correlates of Home-Leaving and Home-Returning

Coresidence with parents is now the most common living arrangement among young adults (ages 18–29) in the United States. For many, coresidence comes after first leaving home and living in an independent household. Recent shifts in these residential transitions has spurred renewed research in this area, with a focus on contemporaneous young adult characteristics, individual well-being, and the family context. Largely overlooked in this research is a consideration of the geographic context where young adults make home-leaving and home-returning decisions. Drawing on residential mobility theory and research that emphasizes features of local housing and labor markets, the present study explores if county-level characteristics are associated with the likelihood of either leaving or returning to the parental home. Using data from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, results indicate that youth are less likely to leave home, and more likely to return to it, if they live in areas with higher rental costs. Housing market characteristics also appear to be more important for home-leaving and home-returning for youth who stay in the same county, as opposed to launching to different counties. Findings thus demonstrate that contextual features should be emphasized alongside individual and family features as pathways to independent living.

SENSOR-ENHANCED CARE COORDINATION TO ADDRESS OLDER ADULT HEALTH: LESSONS FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAM

Abstract Researchers at the University of Missouri have a history of developing and testing aging in place (AIP) care coordination models for clinical translation. Vital to this work are in-home, residentially installed sensors to detect early illness and functional decline over time. While much smart home research is focused on older adults living in continuing care retirement communities, our team developed a novel sensor-enhanced care coordination approach for community-dwelling and disabled older adults as part of two ongoing, federally funded projects. For this symposium, we will highlight the Age-friendly Sustainable Smart and Equitable Technologies for Aging in Place (ASSETs for AIP) demonstration program, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. Our first presentation will overview our interdisciplinary approach to creating this novel care coordination model, with specifics about research team composition, population focus, and methods. Our second presentation will highlight recruitment strategies and share lessons learned from reaching and enrolling this population that often experience residential transitions. Our third presentation will overview the open-source smart home and consumer-grade technologies deployed in this work, and practical considerations for technology installation, support, and sustainability and clinical team training. Our symposium will close with a presentation of selected client case studies that illustrate how clinical care coordinators use sensor data to remotely monitor and empower older adults for behavior change via telehealth consultations. This symposium will help inform other care coordination research, particularly that which uses sensor technologies and telehealth to facilitate aging in place.

Who returned home? The COVID-19 pandemic and young adults’ residential transitions

The COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have led to an increase in the percentage of young adults living with their parents, but the relative contributions made by moves into and out of the parental home to this increase are unknown. Also unknown is whether changes in the likelihood of home leaving and returning were concentrated among privileged or disadvantaged youth. This study used data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Transition into Adulthood Supplement (2013–2021) and estimated logistic regression models to examine changes in the levels and correlates of moving into (n = 1872) and out of (n = 1852) the parental home before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Results show that relative to pre-pandemic trends, during the COVID-19 pandemic young adults were more likely to move back to the parental home and less likely to leave it. The increase in the likelihood of returning home was concentrated among young, white college students from advantaged families. The decline in leaving home was most pronounced among white and employed young adults.

The trifecta of adulthood: Housing, partnering and childbearing trajectories

Substantial changes in residential transitions and family formation patterns have been observed in Western societies, but less attention has been paid to the de-standardisation of adulthood pathways in East Asian contexts, where unique social, economic and cultural circumstances may produce diverse trajectories that are less explored in existing theoretical and empirical frameworks. Adopting a life course perspective, this study identifies the multi-trajectories of housing, partnering and childbearing across adulthood in Taiwan, a setting marked by high housing costs and low fertility rates. Data from the Taiwanese Panel Study of Family Dynamics 2000–2020 (N = 6,931) were used for group-based trajectory modelling, and mixed-effects multinomial regression was employed to examine the likelihood of group membership given early-life resources and social origin. Six common housing–partnering–childbearing trajectories were identified. The most prevalent living arrangement was living in parental homes (50.7%), followed by rental homes (25%), self-owned homes (15.5%) and dorms or other (8.8%). Union formation generally precedes childbearing, whereas housing transitions may occur at various time points. Young adults’ home-leaving and homeownership access appear to be closely related to their parental backgrounds, such as their parents’ educational attainment and occupational status. Overall, the findings are consistent with the de-standardisation of pathways to adulthood, demonstrating the diversity in adult trajectories and the lack of a single dominant pattern.

Does substance use play a role in gender differences in residential independence and returns to the parental home?

Young adults are co-residing with their parents at higher rates now than in the past, and recent research has explored the correlates of both leaving and subsequently returning to the parental home. Of relevance here, females tend to leave home earlier than their male counterparts, and research finds that drinking and drug use are also linked to residential transitions. This research note explores if substance use during adolescence and young adulthood plays a role in gender differences in home-leaving and home-returning. We find that marijuana use plays a role in both home-leaving and home-returning, with adolescent females who use marijuana the most at risk for early exits from home, and marijuana using males the most at risk for home-returning.

Do individuals adapt to all types of housing transitions?

This paper provides one of the first tests of adaptation to the complete set of residential transitions. We use long-run SOEP panel data and consider the impact of all housing transitions, whether or not they involve a change in housing tenure or geographical movement, on both life satisfaction and housing satisfaction. Controlling for individual characteristics, some residential transitions affect life satisfaction only little, while all transitions have a significant effect on housing satisfaction. This latter is particularly large for renters who become homeowners and move geographically, and for renters who move without changing tenure status. Regarding housing satisfaction, we only uncover evidence of some adaptation for renter-renter moves. Losing homeowner status is the only transition that produces lower housing satisfaction, and here the effect seems to become even more negative over time.

Cycles of instability: Proximal and distal influences on residential instability among people with histories of homelessness in three Canadian cities.

People with histories of homelessness often have difficulties obtaining and maintaining adequate housing. This qualitative study examined the residential transitions of people with histories of residential instability and homelessness to understand factors contributing to the instability they experience. Interviews were conducted with 64 participants about their housing transitions, in the final year of a 4-year, prospective cohort study in three Canadian cities (Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver). Findings showed that participants pointed to both distal and proximal factors as affecting residential transitions, including interpersonal conflict, safety concerns, substance use, poverty, pests, and health. Many reported disconnection from their housing and a lack of improvement from one housing situation to the next, demonstrating how even when housed, instability persisted. Our study highlights the complexity associated with participants' often unplanned and abrupt residential transitions. The complex and distal issues that affect housing transitions require structural changes, in addition to individual-based interventions focused on the proximal problems.

Quality over quantity: A transactional model of social withdrawal and friendship development in late adolescence.

The aim of this study was to test a longitudinal, transactional model that describes how social withdrawal and friendship development are interrelated in late adolescence, and to investigate if post‐secondary transitions are catalysts of change for highly withdrawn adolescents’ friendships. Unilateral friendship data of 1,019 adolescents (61.3% female, 91% Dutch‐origin) from the Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohort were collected five times from ages 17 to 18 years. Social withdrawal was assessed at 16 and 19 years. The transactional model was tested within a Structural Equation Modeling framework, with intercepts and slopes of friendship quantity, quality, and stability as mediators and residential transitions, education transitions, and sex as moderators. The results confirmed the presence of a transactional relation between withdrawal and friendship quality. Whereas higher age 16 withdrawal predicted having fewer, lower‐quality, and less‐stable friendships, only having lower‐quality friendships, in turn, predicted higher age 19 withdrawal, especially in girls. Residential transitions were catalysts of change for highly withdrawn youth's number of friends: higher withdrawal predicted a moderate increase in number of friends for adolescents who relocated, and no change for those who made an educational transition or did not transition. Taken together, these results indicate that the quality of friendships—over and above number of friends and the stability of those friendships—is particularly important for entrenching or diminishing withdrawal in late adolescence, and that relocating provides an opportunity for withdrawn late adolescents to expand their friendship networks.

Criminal Justice Contact, Residential Independence, and Returns to the Parental Home

AbstractObjectiveThe authors investigate whether criminal justice contact is associated with residential transitions—both home‐leaving and home‐returning—among contemporary young adults.BackgroundMore young adults live with their parents today than live independently. Despite the prevalence of criminal justice contact among young Americans, and research suggesting that such contact can reshape the life course, it is unknown whether the criminal justice system is associated with patterns of home‐leaving and home‐returning.MethodData are drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a sample of 8,984 young adults born between 1980 and 1984. Event history analyses are used to examine the timing of home‐leaving (n = 810,274 person‐months), and among those who leave, the timing of home‐returning (n = 630,394 person‐months). Criminal justice contact is measured via self‐reported arrests and spells of incarceration.ResultsAcross both the short term and long term, there is a robust association between criminal justice contact and residential transitions out of and back into the parental home. The risk of experiencing home‐leaving or home‐returning is considerably higher in the month an individual is arrested or completes a spell of incarceration, compared to individuals with no contact. Additionally, especially for arrest, the risk of each residential transition remains elevated in the months and years that follow contact.ConclusionFindings highlight how the criminal justice system may complicate the transition to adulthood by contributing to unstable residential trajectories.

Patterns and Predictors of Residential Care Transitions Over Time Among Medicare Beneficiaries

Older adults prefer to age in place, but sociodemographic characteristics, health factors, and socioeconomic resources may influence their decision to move into other residential care settings (e.g., assisted living) or nursing homes. The characterization of residential care transitions and factors contributing to these transitions is limited. This study describes patterns and identifies predictors of transitions across community, residential care settings, and nursing homes among N=7076 Medicare beneficiaries in the National Health and Aging Trends Study, from 2011-2018. A discrete-time, multi-state Markov model was used to estimate the annual probabilities and hazards of transitioning across settings, adjusting for sociodemographic, health, and socioeconomic factors, mortality risk, as well as censoring from loss to follow-up. Most beneficiaries did not experience transitions: annual probabilities of remaining in the community, residential care settings, and nursing homes were 93%, 78%, and 73%, respectively. Being older, having dementia, being hospitalized in the last year, living alone, having multimorbidity, and having some or any functional limitations were associated with higher hazards of transition from the community to residential care settings and nursing homes. Being on Medicaid was associated with a reduced hazard of transitioning from the community to residential care settings (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.36-0.91), but a higher hazard of transitioning from the community to nursing homes (HR: 1.37; 95%: CI: 0.98-1.91). As long-term services and supports increasingly shift from institutional to home and community-based care, our results can inform the design of federal and state policies targeting transitions across the care continuum.

A dyadic approach for a remote physical activity intervention in adults with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers: Rationale and design for an 18-month randomized trial

Adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) and their caregivers represent a sizeable and underserved segment of the population with low levels of moderate physical activity (MPA). Options for increasing MPA in community dwelling adults with ADRD and their caregivers are limited. A home-based physical activity intervention delivered remotely via video conferencing to groups of adults with ADRD and their caregivers (RGV), represents a potentially effective approach for increasing MPA in this group. We will conduct an 18-month randomized trial (6 mos. Active intervention, 6 mos. Maintenance, 6 mos. no contact) to compare the effectiveness of the RGV approach with usual care, enhanced with caregiver support (EUC), for increasing MPA in 100 community dwelling adults with ADRD and their caregiver. The primary aim is to compare MPA (min/wk.), assessed by accelerometer, across the 6-mo. active intervention in adults with ADRD randomized to RGV or EUC. Secondarily, we will compare adults with ADRD and their caregivers randomized to RGV or ECU on the following outcomes across 18 mos.: MPA (min/wk.), sedentary time (min/wk.), percentage meeting 150 min/wk. MPA goal, functional fitness, activities of daily living, quality of life, residential transitions, cognitive function, and caregiver burden. Additionally, we will evaluate the influence of age, sex, BMI, attendance (exercise/support sessions), use of recorded sessions, self-monitoring, peer interactions during group sessions, caregiver support, type and quality of dyadic relationship, and number of caregivers on changes in MPA in adults with ADRD and their caregiver across 18 mos.

Social Support and Patterns of Institutionalization Among Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study.

To identify participants living at home and to estimate the risk of their transition into an institutional setting. Prospective cohort study from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a nationally representative survey of US adults aged 65 and older. US national sample. A total of 4712 NHATS participants were living at home in 2011. Residential transitions were described every year through 2017. The primary outcome was transition time into an institutional setting. Primary predictors were social support factors (living spouse, lives with others, presence of social network, and participation in social activities). Covariates included age, sex, race, cognitive status, functional disability, multimorbidity, and Medicaid enrollment. A Fine and Gray hazards model estimated the risk of transition into an institutional setting, with death before institutionalization considered a competing risk. In 2011, 4712 NHATS participants were living at home (78 ± 8 y; 57% female; 80% white; 10% probable dementia; 7% with three or more activities of daily living disabilities). By 2017, 58% remained at home, 17% had either transitioned to an institution or died in an institution, and 25% died before institutionalization. In multivariable analyses that adjusted for age, sex, race, cognitive status, functional disability, multimorbidity, and Medicaid enrollment, participants were more likely to move out of the home into an institution if they had no social network (0 vs three or more people; subhazard ratio [sHR] = 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-2.5; P = .003) or lived alone (sHR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.6-2.2; P < .0001). Older adults who enjoyed going to the movies, dinner, or the casino and visiting family or friends had a lower probability of institutionalization compared with participants who did not enjoy these activities or did not visit family or friends (adjusted sHR = .7; 95% CI = .6-.9; adjusted sHR = .7; 95% CI = .6-.9, respectively). Policy initiatives should target older adults with limited social support to reduce the risk of moving from home into an institution. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:2622-2627, 2019.

Modification of Housing Mobility Experimental Effects on Delinquency and Educational Problems: Middle Adolescence as a Sensitive Period.

Residential mobility is one documented stressor contributing to higher delinquency and worse educational outcomes. Sensitive period life course models suggest that certain developmental stages make individuals more susceptible to the effects of an exposure, like residential mobility, on outcomes. However, most prior research is observational, and has not examined heterogeneity across age or gender that may inform sensitive periods, even though it may have important implications for the etiology of adolescent development. Moreover, there are important translational implications for identifying the groups most vulnerable to residential mobility to inform how to buffer adverse effects of moving. In this study, low-income families were randomized to residential mobility out of public housing into lower poverty neighborhoods using a rental subsidy voucher ("experimental voucher condition"), and were compared to control families remaining in public housing. The sample was comprised of 2829 youth (51% female; 62% Non-Hispanic Black, 31% Hispanic, 7% other race). At baseline, youth ranged from 5 to 16 years old. This study hypothesized that random assignment to the housing voucher condition would generate harmful effects on delinquency and educational problems, compared to the control group, among boys who were older at baseline. The results confirmed this hypothesis: random assignment to the experimental voucher condition generating residential mobility caused higher delinquency among boys who were 13-16 years old at baseline, compared to same-age, in-place public housing controls. However, residential mobility did not affect delinquency among girls regardless of age, or among boys who were 5-12 years old at baseline. The pattern of results for educational problems was similar but weaker. Families with teenage boys are particularly vulnerable to residential transitions. Incorporating additional supports into housing programs may help low-income, urban families to successfully transition to lower poverty neighborhoods.

Developmental effects of childhood household adversity, transitions, and relationship quality on adult outcomes of socioeconomic status: Effects of substantiated child maltreatment

The degree to which child maltreatment interacts with other household adversities to exacerbate risk for poor adult socioeconomic outcomes is uncertain. Moreover, the effects of residential, school, and caregiver transitions during childhood on adult outcomes are not well understood. This study examined the relation between household adversity and transitions in childhood with adult income problems, education, and unemployment in individuals with or without a childhood maltreatment history. The potential protective role of positive relationship quality in buffering these risk relationships was also tested. Data were from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study (n = 457), where subjects were assessed at preschool, elementary, adolescent, and adult ages. Multiple group path analysis tested the relationships between childhood household adversity; residential, school, and caregiver transitions; and adult socioeconomic outcomes for each group. Caregiver relationship quality was included as a moderator, and gender as a covariate. Household adversity was negatively associated with education level and positively associated with income problems for non-maltreated children only. For both groups, residential transitions was negatively associated with education level and caregiver transitions was positively associated with unemployment problems. Relationship quality was positively associated with education level only for non-maltreated children. For children who did not experience maltreatment, reducing exposure to household adversity is an important goal for prevention. Reducing exposure to child maltreatment for all children remains an important public health priority. Results underscore the need for programs and policies that promote stable relationships and environments.

Precocious life course transitions, exits from, and returns to the parental home

Abstract Residential independence has long been considered a core feature of the transition to adulthood in contemporary American society. But in recent years a growing share of young adults are living in their parents’ household, and many of these have returned home after a spell of residential independence. Recent research on exits and returns to the parental home has focused on the role of concurrent life-course transitions, young adult social and economic status, family background, and family connectivity. We know little, however, about how precocious, or early, life course transitions during adolescence affect leaving or returning home. We use longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997 Cohort) to examine the association between precocious transitions to adult roles during adolescence and home-leaving (n = 8865) and home-returning (n = 7704) in the United States. Some, but not all, precocious transitions are tied to residential transitions, and often in competing ways. Our findings contribute to growing research on young adults living in the parental home, and shows how adolescent experiences can contribute to inequality in the transition to adulthood.

A review of adults with disabilities transitioning from their family home to community settings

INTRODUCTION: This study examined the experiences of adults with disabilities (AWDs) transitioning to community based residential settings. This field of study has not been sufficiently researched despite being a key aspect of adulthood.METHOD: A literature review of articles relating to residential transitions for AWDs was undertaken.FINDINGS: The literature review findings could be grouped around three main categories: AWDs’ perception and self-determination, caregivers’ perceptions of the process and, lastly, the insights from service providers and social policies. The review and feedback identified issues experienced during the residential transition, such as feelings of readiness to transit which relate closely to the person’s self-determination. As the study delved deeper into the residential transition process in Aotearoa New Zealand, AWDs are noted to be vulnerable persons always requiring support in order to develop and maintain their independence.IMPLICATIONS: Substantive state recognition, such as a social compact, is the key groundwork for this marginalised group to develop self-efficacy, have successful transition experiences and sustain good lives. Eventually, this must be in the form of Crown-binding legislation, where vulnerable adults are served through restorative and protective policies.

There will be some changes made: A survivor perspective on post-acquired brain injury residential transition

Primary objective: Brain injury survivors experience many transitions post-injury and it is important that they experience these in the most supportive and integrative ways possible. This study provided a group of chronic brain injury survivors the opportunity to share their insights and experience of residential transition and to suggest strategies to help maximize the transition experience and outcomes.Research design: This study used a qualitative design that consisted of semi-structured interviews.Methods and procedures: Twenty-one adults with chronic acquired brain injury residing in community-based supported group houses answered a series of scripted questions. Interviews were recorded and participant statements were transcribed and coded according to prospectively developed transition themes.Main outcomes and results: Participants discussed positive and negative insights and experiences regarding residential transitions. Themes of balance between support and independence, life purpose and transition to more or less structure were frequently addressed. Participants suggested caregiver-targeted strategies to facilitate successful transitions before, during and after a move.Conclusions: The insights and suggestions shared by this group of chronic acquired brain injury survivors add to already existing knowledge of post-injury residential transitions and strategies professional caregivers may use to maximize the ease and success of the survivor's transitional experience.

Urban residential area transitions in China: patterns, trends and determinations

Profound social and physical changes have taken place in urban China since the economic reform in 1978. This study investigates the patterns and trends of urban residential area transitions and analyses the driving factors behind them. Through a detailed field survey and historical satellite imagery analysis in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, it was found that the basic urban residential unit went through a social and physical succession: from pre-1949 residential areas and work-unit compounds to commodity housing estates, then to city complexes during the last three decades. As the various kinds of residential areas coexisted during the transition period, the overall urban form appears as a mosaic-like pattern, with reduced regularity along a rural–urban gradient. The transitions were achieved at the expense of a huge loss of natural ecology and arable land and also led to overheating in the residential market. Concern is also raised about the vulnerability of living conditions in current urban China.

Residential transitions among adults with intellectual disability across 20 years.

The present study addresses critical gaps in the literature by examining residential transitions among 303 adults with intellectual disability (ID) over 10 years (Part 1) and 75 adults with Down syndrome over 20 years (Part 2). All adults lived at home at the start of the study, but many moved to a variety of settings. Several characteristics of the adults with ID differed across settings, most notably adaptive behavior and the number of residential transitions, whereas characteristics such as age, type of disability, and behavior problems were less predictive of residential placements. The number of moves over the course of the study varied widely, with critical links to earlier family dynamics, social relationships, and health and adaptive behavior.

Exploring Residential Mobility among Low-Income Families

AbstractWhile it is widely recognized that low-income families move frequently, the complexities of such transitions are not well understood. This article uses panel data from the Women’s Employment Study to examine the patterns and correlates of different forms of mobility among one sample of low-income mothers in the years following welfare reform. The analysis reveals considerable heterogeneity between movers and nonmovers and, to a lesser extent, between those who experience positive and negative moves. Most families experience positive residential transitions, yet nearly a quarter of movers are dissatisfied with their housing circumstances following a move. Multivariate analyses show that being African American, experiencing a job loss, and reporting hard drug use significantly increase the probability of experiencing negative mobility, while having a physical health problem increases the probability of dissatisfaction in the absence of mobility.