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Disability, residential mobility, and changes in living arrangements
Journal of Gerontology
|May 1, 1991
Summary
Disability significantly impacts living arrangements and mobility. Changes in daily activities strongly correlate with moving or institutionalization, though causality remains unproven.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Sociology
- Public Health
Background:
- Disability significantly impacts older adults' lives.
- Understanding mobility and living arrangement changes is crucial for aging research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between disability and changes in mobility and living arrangements.
- To investigate if limitations in activities of daily living predict future changes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the 1984-86 Longitudinal Study of Aging.
- Analyzed the association between disability in 1984 and outcomes in 1986.
- Incorporated changes in disability between 1984 and 1986 into the analysis.
Main Results:
- Significant disability in 1984 predicted institutionalization and co-residence in 1986.
- Residential mobility was weakly linked to disability when controlling for other factors.
- Changes in disability strongly correlated with residential mobility and living arrangement adjustments.
Conclusions:
- Older adults respond rapidly to changes in their disability status.
- While associations are strong, a causal link between disability changes and subsequent mobility/living arrangement shifts cannot be definitively established.