| The desire to "age-in-place" among the elderly remains a consistent theme for most people. Although there has been research (Taira and Carlson, 1999) done on designing new housing environments, there has been little to no research done on home modifications for current homes that allow aging in place versus residential transitions. This research explored the physical structures of ones current housing environment as a predictor of a change in housing environment at a later point in time. The influence of functional status at an individual and couple household level was examined and is a unique contribution of the study. The interaction effects of housing features and home modifications with functional limitations were determined.; The data used in this study was taken from two waves of the Health and Retirement Survey. The study sample included 6586 original households in 1998 with respondents aged 65 years and older. The dependent variable, housing adjustment, was defined as: (1) No Change in Main Residence, (2) Change in Main Residence, (3) Move into a Nursing Home or (4) Death. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to determine significant variables associated with housing transitions and the influence of functional status.; The descriptive statistics described the couple and single household samples. In general, more couple households remained in place, had a smaller rate of institutionalization into a nursing home and had a smaller rate of death. This may suggest that couple households are more supportive and more stable environments than single households. There were physical housing features and home modifications that had positive effect on "aging in place" among elders in both types of households. The findings for housing features, home modifications and the influence of functional status were different for each type of household, which may suggest different decision making patterns regarding housing transitions. The empirical findings for this research have implications for the housing market, housing development for the elderly, policy makers, families, the long term care and health insurance industries. |
