The Effect of Disability Onset on Residential Mobility in Late Life

1. Likelihood of Moving by Living Arrangements for People who Remained Independent Likelihood of Moving by Living Arrangements for People who Became Disabled Michelle Cheuk Carolina Population Center The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Effect of Disability Onset on Residential Mobility in Late Life Significant Predictors of a Residential Move Two Years Since Baseline Research questions • What is the effect of becoming disabled on residential moves? • How does the effect differ by age, sex, race, education, living arrangements, number of years lived in the home, and severity of disability? Data • 1994-2000 NHIS Second Longitudinal Study on Aging (LSOA II) • Waves 1 and 2 (2 years apart) • Age 70+ • Community-dwelling at baseline • n = 6,131 • Independent at T1 and alive at T2 • Non-missing data on all variables Variables • Dependent variable = residential move • At T2, moved since T1 (2 years ago). • Independent variables • Age • Sex • Race (white, black, other) • Education (# years) • Living arrangements (T1) (mutually exclusive) • Alone • With spouse (no child) • With spouse & child • With child (no spouse) • With other family • With non-family • # years lived in the home (T1) • Severity of disability (for those who became disabled) • # ADLs at T2 Two groups • People who remain independent • Independent at T1 and T2 • Independent = no ADLs • People who become disabled • Independent at T1, ADL disabled at T2 • ADL disabled = unable to perform 1 ADL Analysis • Separate logistic regression models for people who remain independent and people who become disabled: Independent variables  residential move • Relative impact of significant independent variables assessed by predicted probabilities, with all other variables held constant at their sample means. • For people who become disabled, add severity of disability. Summary • For both people who remained independent and people who became disabled, older age increased the likelihood of moving. • The effect of age was stronger for people who became disabled than for those who remained independent. • For people who became disabled, women were more likely to move than men. For people who remained independent, there was no difference in moving by sex. • Race and education do not significantly predict residential moves for either people who remained independent and people who became disabled. • For people who remained independent, the likelihood of moving was about the same across all living arrangements. • For people who became disabled, there is a lot of variation in likelihood of moving by living arrangement, although only one living arrangement is significantly different than living alone due to small cell sizes of some other categories. • Those who lived with a child but not a spouse were the least likely to move. • For both people who remained independent and people who became disabled, the longer a person has lived in her home, the less likely she was to move. • For people who became disabled, the likelihood of moving increased with the severity of the disability. So what? • Becoming disabled more than triples the likelihood of moving. And quickly  within 2 years. • What about a longer follow-up period? • It is living with a child, not a spouse, that reduces the chances that becoming disabled compels a person to move. • What about children who live nearby? • Why isn’t a spouse more protective? • Becoming disabled compels women to move more than men. Could possible reasons be: • Worse health of spouse? • More likely to move to live near or with children? • Fewer economic resources? • More likely to become institutionalized? • Education does not have a significant effect on moving. Why? • More resources can help a person stay in her home or help her move to a more accommodating home. Future directions • Further development of this research will include, in addition to the above, the following: • Changes in living arrangements • In-home care (formal and informal) • Economic resources • IADL disability onset • Follow-up at a later date (T3) Likelihood of Moving by Years Lived in the Home RESULTS Likelihood of Moving Two Years Since Baseline (controlling for age, sex, race, education, living arrangements, and number of years lived in home) Likelihood of Moving by Severity of Disability for People who Became Disabled Likelihood of Moving by Age Michelle Cheuk University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Carolina Population Center CB# 8120, University Square 123 West Franklin Street Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 cheuk@unc.edu Note: Predicted probabilities are calculated net of control variables, which are held constant at their sample means.