Living Arrangements and Elderly Care (Venice, 1850-1869) Renzo Derosas

1. Living Arrangements and Elderly Care (Venice, 1850-1869) Renzo Derosas Department of Economics, Ca’Foscari University of Venice. Email: derosas@unive.it Background Cohabitation and proximity Contemporary surveys show that in ageing societies non-cohabiting kin provide important support to the elderly, proximity being a valuable alternative to cohabitation. This aspect is usually neglected by historical studies, overwhelmingly focused on household structures and patterns of cohabitation. This study shows that kinship and social networks beyond the household also matter and should be taken into account. % elderly cohabiting with Objectives • To describe the living arrangements of the elderly in an Italian city around mid-19th century. • To highlight the availability of close kin outside the household. • To test the effect of both cohabiting and neighboring kin on the wellbeing of the elderly, as measured by differential mortality. M. Scarabellin kin network Kin networks: an example Materials and Methods Maddalena Scarabellin’s extended kin network • Data: • Geo-coded life histories of 6,279 individuals aged 60 to 79 (longitudinal data at the individual and household levels, drawn from local population registers, 1850 to 1869). Overall, the population sample comprises about 30,000 individuals, living in 6 different areas of Venice. • Methods: • Descriptive statistics of living arrangements and the availability of kin. • Hazards models of the risk of dying in the age group 60-79, with covariates regarding the presence of close kin (spouse, children, siblings) as well as more distant kin. Arrows show descendance Nodes are eithercouples or individuals Mortality hazards models Conclusions Solitary elderly were relatively rare in 19th-century Venice, around 20%. Most lived with their spouses, children, or siblings. Furthermore, 48% had children and 18% had siblings living nearby. The average number of close kin (up to the third degree) was 5.8. Cohabiting and neighboring kin had a significant impact on the survival of the elderly, although varying with gender and the position of the relatives taken into account. Support from non-cohabiting relatives should be stressed. It is also worth noting that changes of residence, implying a possible disruption of the elderly social network, is associated with a remarkable mortality rise.