The impact of community-based services on the residential choice of older Americans

Research shows that most older people, in spite of increasing disabilities, prefer to age-in-place, that is, to remain in their own homes in the community for as long as possible. Independent living for the elderly is regarded as a desirable goal both for society as well as for the elderly themselves. One of the salient issues regarding independent living for the elderly is the demand for and availability of family and community support systems that complement the needs of the older population.;The results of the study indicate that community-based service utilization increases the probability of aging-in-place, that is, staying in one's own home. The effective service type, however, varies by residential choice. Personal care services are effective in preventing elderly people from nursing-home placement, while community facility services are the ones that keep elderly people from moving away from their own homes to another location. Formal service provision has no significant impact on reducing use of nursing-homes. Both contact with and amount of formal service used by elderly people significantly decrease the probability of moving to another location compared with staying in one's own home.;The purpose of this study is to examine whether and to what degree supportive services help older people maintain an independent life style within the community. The focus of this study is on independent living with respect to residential choice. The primary hypothesis is that a greater degree of supportive services increases the probability of aging-in-place. Independent living is defined as: (1) keeping one's own residence as opposed to moving to another location; (2) remaining in the community as opposed to relocating to an institutional setting. This study uses the maximum likelihood estimation with the logistic regression model to evaluate the impact of community-based services on residential choice of elderly people. Data from the National Health Interview Survey: Longitudinal Study of Aging, 70 Years and Over is used for the analysis.