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Living Arrangements in Later Life

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging

Synonyms

Co-residence; Household arrangements; Household composition; Household size

Definition

Living arrangements refer to the structure and composition of one’s household, including the number of household members and their relationships to each another. Living arrangements include both single-person households (i.e., living alone) and multi-person households, including those comprised of persons with familial ties (e.g., living with a spouse or adult children) or those without familial ties (e.g., living with a partner or others related or unrelated). Living arrangements have also been examined in terms of intergenerational co-residence among older adults and their adult children – households that are often shaped by one’s individual needs, family structure, and cultural contexts (Isengard and Szydlik 2012).

Overview

Living arrangements represent an important social context in later life – one that relates to opportunities for social integration, perceived isolation, health, and...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA

    David Russell & Elizabeth Breaux

Authors
  1. David Russell
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  2. Elizabeth Breaux
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Russell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Population Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu

  2. Department of Population Health Sciences, Department of Sociology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Matthew E. Dupre

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Sociology, Lehman College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Naomi J. Spence

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Russell, D., Breaux, E. (2021). Living Arrangements in Later Life. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22009-9_324

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