Changes in older people's living arrangements in Flanders, 1993–98

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
VEERLE AUDENAERT
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Registration Data ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Very Old Age

The living arrangements of older people are changing. An analysis of official registration data (1993–1998) in Flanders, Belgium, shows that while the number of single person households has been increasing, the proportion of people aged 75 or more years living alone has been falling and the proportion living with a spouse or partner increasing. No less than one third of the older people who lived alone in 1993 sustain a one-person household into very old age. It was also found that those who are widowed at a very advanced age change house or move very quickly, women to a greater extent and at younger ages than men. The principal destinations are residential care homes and, to a lesser extent, child's households. Living alone appears to be a decreasingly acceptable option. Since very old people with a disability appear to have an increasing preference for residential care and a lessening preference for co-residence with relatives, these developments have consequences for both informal family care and public social services. Particular attention needs to be paid to men who live alone as a risk-group, and residential care provision requires expansion.

scholarly journals The impact of adult mortality on the living arrangements of older people in rural South Africa

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 431-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
VICTORIA HOSEGOOD ◽  
IAN M. TIMÆUS
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Older People ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Adult Mortality ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Rural South ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Quality Infrastructure ◽  
Rural South Africa

This paper examines changes in households with older people in a northern rural area of KwaZulu Natal province, South Africa, between January 2000 and January 2002. The focus is the impact of adult deaths, especially those from AIDS, on the living arrangements of older people. The longitudinal data are from the Africa Centre Demographic Information System. In 2000, 3,657 older people (women aged 60 years or older, men 65 years or older) were resident in the area, and 3,124 households had at least one older member. The majority (87%) of older people lived in three-generation households. Households with older people were significantly poorer, more likely to be headed by a woman, and in homesteads with poorer quality infrastructure than households without older members. By January 2002, 316 (8%) of the older people in the sample had died. Of all the households with an older person, 12 per cent experienced at least one adult death from AIDS. The paper shows that older people, particularly those living alone or with children in the absence of other adults, were living in the poorest households. They were also coping with an increasing burden of young adult deaths, the majority of which were attributable to AIDS.

scholarly journals Family Care, Social Services, and Living Arrangements Factors Influencing Psychosocial Well-Being of Elderly from Selected Households in Ibadan, Nigeria

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Oladeji
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Ibadan Nigeria

This study examined family care, social services, and living arrangements factors influencing the psychosocial well-being of the elderly from selected households in Ibadan, Nigeria. The participants for the study consisted of 280 elderly persons randomly drawn from selected households in five local government areas of Ibadan metropolis. A descriptive survey design was employed in collecting the data from the respondents. Data collected were analyzed using chi-square () statistics. Results obtained indicated that significant relationships existed between family care (, df = 12, ), social services (, df = 12, ), and living arrangements (, df = 6, ) and psychosocial well-being of elderly. The results implicate the need for the framework on the complex system of the elderly services. These areas of service include economic services, attitudes toward aging, roles played by the elderly, and health care services.

Life satisfaction among older people in Italy in a gender approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 1481-1504 ◽  
Author(s):  
SILVIA MEGGIOLARO ◽  
FAUSTA ONGARO
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Older People ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Older Men ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Older Men And Women

ABSTRACTOver the last few decades, increasing attention has been paid to the issue of wellbeing among older people, and life satisfaction has been used as an indicator to evaluate older people's life conditions. This paper sheds some light on this topic with reference to Italy, a country characterised by an increasing ageing population. The aim is to examine life satisfaction among people aged 65 and older and its predictors. We adopt a gender approach to examine whether – as suggested by the literature – older men and women have different sources of satisfaction. We test this hypothesis in Italy, a country still characterised by an unbalanced public and private gender system. In doing this, we also control whether living arrangements – specifically living alone – influence the determinants of life satisfaction of older men and women. The data used are from the cross-sectional surveys ‘Aspects of Daily Life’, undertaken in Italy by the National Statistical Institute. The results do not show clear gender differences in the determinants of life satisfaction, with only some slight gender differences among those living alone. This suggests that the social and cultural environment may play a relevant role for older people's life satisfaction.

scholarly journals Loneliness and Social Isolation Among Centenarians and Near-Centenarians: Results From the Fordham Centenarian Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 110-110
Author(s):  
Daniele Zaccaria ◽  
Stefano Cavalli ◽  
Barbara Masotti ◽  
Daniela Jopp
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Loneliness Scale ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Very Old Age

Abstract Although loneliness and social isolation are often discussed together, they are mainly examined separately. The few studies examining both concepts simultaneously focus usually on the wider category of older people (65+), with no or little attention to very old age. Our main aim was to investigate loneliness and social isolation in combination among near-centenarians and centenarians. Analyzing data from the Fordham Centenarian Study (N=94; MAge=99.2; range=95-107), we found no or very weak associations between loneliness and social isolation. Combining measures of loneliness (UCLA Loneliness scale) and social isolation (Lubben Scale) we built a typology with four different groups (Not lonely or isolated; Lonely and isolated; Lonely but not isolated; Isolated but not lonely). The factors that most strongly predicted the distribution among these four groups were gender, widowhood, education, and self-rated health. Findings highlight the importance of jointly studying both concepts to better understand social risks in very old age.

scholarly journals Living arrangements of older persons in 1987–2035 in Finland: trends by age, sex and educational attainment

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
PEKKA MARTIKAINEN ◽  
MIKE MURPHY ◽  
HETA MOUSTGAARD ◽  
JANNE MIKKONEN
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
Transition Probability ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Household Structure ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Registration Data ◽  
Educational Differences ◽  
Probability Forecasts

ABSTRACTChanges in household structure may have a major impact on the future wellbeing of older people. We evaluate changes in living arrangements of 65+ Finnish men and women from 1987 to 2011 and project living arrangements to 2035 by education level. We use an 11 per cent longitudinal sample of Finns drawn from the population registration data. We estimate proportions in various living arrangements and multi-state life table estimates of years lived in particular states. Projections are based on dynamic transition probability forecasts with constant and changing rates. We show that women more than men tend to live alone at older ages. These proportions are likely to start to decline slowly among women, particularly at 80+, but increase or stabilise among men. Apart from living with a marital or co-habiting partner, other living arrangements are growing increasingly rare. The number of basic educated older people is declining rapidly. Educational differences in living arrangements are modest among women, but among men living with a partner is more common among the higher educated. Future living arrangements of older people are strongly determined by past partnership behaviour and future changes in mortality. If life expectancy differences between men and women continue to converge, so will sex differences in the remaining years of life spent living with a partner.

scholarly journals Homely Residential Care: A Contradiction in Terms?

2001 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHEILA PEACE ◽  
CAROLINE HOLLAND
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Older People ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Residential Homes ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Her Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
Care For Older People ◽  
The Ideal

Accommodation and care for older people is commonly thought of in relation to residential care homes: the collective settings with communal lounges and dining rooms, where older people may live what seems to be a fine balance between individual and group routines. Yet, while there have been changes to the living arrangements of people in relatively large collective groups, the ideal put forward as a basis for care settings has remained that of ‘home’, with the family model still central. With the tensions between public and private, domestic and institutional living, regulated and non-regulated settings, all too obvious, this article uses a pilot study in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire of registered small homes with less than four residential places, often run by the proprietor and her family, to consider whether residential homes may replicate a homely environment, or whether the model has run its course.

scholarly journals Modernization, Aging and Coresidence of Older Persons: the Sri Lankan Experience

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amarasiri De Silva ◽  
W.M.J. Welgama
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Fishing Villages ◽  
Living Space

This paper examines the effects of the modernization on the living arrangements of elderly people in six selected communities representing urban, semi-urban, estate, rural, colonized settlement and fishing villages in Sri Lanka. The paper concludes that the modernization of the economy and society has exacerbated an intergenerational rift leading to an intensification of tensions between elderly people and other family members, despite the fact that the percentage of older people living with their children remains high. Such coresidence or intergenerational living comprises many types of living arrangements, and leads to mixed results for care of the elderly. Many elderly people have developed mechanisms to counteract the negative effects of coresidence: seeking independence during old age, by earning their own income and living alone or living with the spouse, indulging in behaviors such as drinking, spending time outside the home with friends of similar age, or creating their own living space within coresidence.

scholarly journals Formal and informal care for people with dementia: variations in costs over time

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUSTINE SCHNEIDER ◽  
ANGELA HALLAM ◽  
M. KAMRUL ISLAM ◽  
JOANNA MURRAY ◽  
BETH FOLEY ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Informal Care ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Formal Care ◽  
Formal Service ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Formal Services ◽  
Over Time

The services used by people with dementia and their carers were measured at three time points over 17 months. This analysis is unusual in that both informal care and formal inputs were costed. The costs estimates for informal inputs developed here may be applied to other data sets. Two hypotheses to explain the inter-relationship between informal and formal care inputs, substitution and supplementation, were compared in analysing the data. This paper explores the variations in costs according to the living arrangements of the people with dementia, by level of dependency and over time, and finds systematic differences. The costs of the inputs from co-resident carers consistently exceeded the costs of formal services, with informal care constituting up to 40 per cent of the total costs burden for dementia care. When informal inputs were included, non-domestic residential care emerged as less, not more, costly than care in the community. There was a shift in costs burden from health services to social services over time as more people moved into non-domestic settings. Multivariate analyses identified several predictors of informal and formal care costs: physical disability, level of cognitive impairment, living in non-domestic settings, and formal care provided. Non-domestic care predicted lower inputs of both formal and informal services. Dementia level was positively associated with informal inputs. Physical frailty was associated with more formal care, but less informal care. More formal service inputs predicted higher informal care inputs. There is evidence of supplementation of informal care by formal services in the early stages of care, followed by substitution as the person with dementia enters residential care.

Living Arrangements and Risk for Late Life Depression: A Meta-Analysis of Published Literature

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hu Xiu-Ying ◽  
Cheng Qian ◽  
Peng Xiao-Dong ◽  
Zhang Xue-Mei ◽  
Huang Chang-Quan
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Home ◽  
Relative Risk ◽  
Older People ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Late Life Depression ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Risk For Depression

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between living arrangements and risk for depression among older people. Method: MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library database was used to identify potential studies. The studies were divided into cross-sectional and longitudinal subsets. Qualitative meta-analysis of the cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies was performed, respectively. For prevalence and incidence rates of depression, odds ratio (OR) and relative risk (RR) were calculated, respectively. Results: The qualitative meta-analysis showed that older people living alone had a higher risk of depression than those not living alone (OR: 1.44; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.04–1.99); Relative risk (RR: 1.27, 95% CI: 0.89–1.80) and those living with families (OR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.60–4.20). Older people living in a nursing home (OR: 2.90, 95% CI: 0.94–8.94; RR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.18–3.20) or institutionalized setting (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.37–2.52; RR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.12–3.70) had a higher risk of depression than those living in home. Conclusions: Despite the methodological limitations of this meta-analysis, living arrangements appear related to the risk for depression in the older population. Older persons living alone, in a nursing home, or in an institutionalized setting have higher risk for depression.

scholarly journals INEQUALITIES IN FRAILTY BY SOCIO-ECONOMIC POSITION: IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S225-S225
Author(s):  
Carol Jagger ◽  
Mark D Hayward
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Birth Cohort Study ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Very Old Age ◽  
Economic Position ◽  
Young Old

Abstract A number of studies have found that higher socio-economic position (SEP) appears protective of becoming frail. However, not only can SEP be defined in early, mid or late life, by education, occupational status or income/material disadvantage respectively, but frailty may occur in the young old as well as the very old. Do the same measures of SEP reflect inequalities in frailty in the young old as the very old? Does it matter when in the lifecourse SEP is measured? Have inequalities in frailty between SEP groups changed across the generations of older people? We seek to answer such questions from cohorts across the spectrum of later life. The first presentation, from the 1958 British Birth Cohort Study, examines the association between early-life SEP and frailty at age 50 and whether this association is due to continued disadvantage into mid-life. The second presentation moves to very old age, examining the role of early, mid and late life disadvantage on the progression of frailty between ages 85 and 90 in the Newcastle 85+ cohort. The third presentation, based on the electronic health records of adults aged 75 years and over in England, focuses on whether SEP modifies frailty trajectories in the last year of life. The final presentation examines whether SEP inequalities in frailty have changed over different generations of older people, and utilises data from the Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies. Together these presentations increase understanding of which SEP groups should be targeted for interventions to reduce frailty throughout later life.

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