Trajectories of Living Arrangements Among Older Americans

Background/Purpose: Family members are a significant component of social networks of individuals, and family interactions and support varies depending on living arrangements. Living arrangements become especially important for older adults when health problems arise. Since caregiving requires geographic proximity, frail elders tend to be supported by their children or relatives who live in the same household or nearby. This study aims to explore the trajectories of living arrangements of older Americans over an extensive period of time, and to examine what factors influence the trajectories of living arrangements. We particularly focused on racial/ethnic variations and health effects on trajectories of living arrangements.

Methods: Data came from seven waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1998 - 2010). The sample was restricted to community-dwelling older adults over 60 years of age with at least one living child in order to investigate intergenerational living arrangements. All of the samples were selected in 1998, and they were observed over a 12-year period. The final sample consisted of 10,914 individuals contributing to 68,156 observations. The living arrangement trajectory groups were identified using Latent Class Analyses. Living arrangements were categorized into three groups: co-residence, proximate residence, and distant residence. After identifying living arrangement trajectory groups, multinomial logit regression was used to examine if there are racial/ethnic differences in the trajectories of living arrangements and to what extent various health conditions such as functional limitations, chronic conditions, and depressive symptoms influence the trajectories of living arrangements among older adults.

Results: We found four different patterns of living arrangement trajectories: continuously in distant residence, continuously in co-residence, from distant residence to co-residence, and from co-residence to distant residence. White elders were more likely to be in the continuously in distant residence group and in the distant to co-residence group than other minority elders, even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic attributes. Hispanic elders were most likely to be in the continuously co-residence group, and African American elders were most likely to be in the co-residence to distant residence group. The functional limitations and chronic conditions at the baseline were significantly associated with the continuously co-residence, and aggravations of these health conditions during the study period increased the probability of being in the distant residence to co-residence group. However, depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with the trajectories of living arrangements.

Conclusion and Implications: This study is possibly the first to analyze the long-term trajectories of living arrangements among older adults, and contributes to more comprehensive understanding of living arrangements among older adults. This study confirms that health conditions are important predictors of the trajectories of living arrangements in old age, and highlights the importance of cultural contexts in understanding living arrangements in old age.