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Projects
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Title:
Independent and Community Factors in Independent Living
Brief Description:
The preference for residential independence among mature adults is a long-term trend in
American society, where large proportions of older individuals choose to live alone or
with a spouse, if married. However, for many individuals, poor health, chronic disability,
and/or inadequate economic resources require alternative arrangements, such as combining
households with other adults or making use of a patchwork of long-term care options. The
purpose of this project is to investigate the role of health and functional ability for
shaping residential and non-residential living arrangement choices of older Americans,
with specific emphasis on the independent and joint effects of local community and
state-level characteristics. Three research questions guide this research: (1) What
combinations of specific health and social network characteristics influence current
status and changes in residential independence? (2) How does the local health care
service infrastructure and housing market environment influence the probability of
maintaining residential independence? (3) How is the relationship between residential
independence and personal and family resources altered when relevant features of the
local community (e.g., health care service infrastructure and housing market conditions)
are taken into account?
These questions are addressed with panel data from the National Survey of Families and
Households combined with county-level data from the US Census of Population and the
Bureau of Health Relations' Area Resource Files. The analysis is based on multivariate
logistic regression techniques for multi-level data (Hierarchical Generalized Linear
Models). Mixed (fixed effects and random effects) models are employed to estimate the
individual and community factors that explain the underlying process in living
arrangement choices. Employing these analytic techniques, we also estimate the joint
effects of personal characteristics and community environment on residential living
arrangement outcomes.
Funding:
National Institute on Aging
Principal Investigators:
Jeffrey A. Burr, Principal Investigator
Jan E. Mutchler, Co-Investigator
Research Assistants:
Jennifer Pilcher Warren
Contact:
jeffrey.burr@umb.edu
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