Centre for Policy on Ageing



The life course trajectory toward living alone — racial differences
Author(s)	Judith C Hays, Linda K George
Journal title	Research on Aging, vol 24, no 3, May 2002
Pages	pp 283-307
Keywords	Black people ; White people ; Life span ; Living alone ; Social surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	Dramatic increases in living alone in later life have been associated with higher incomes and better health, obscuring the risk to subgroups living alone who have diminished health and financial resources. This prospective cohort study used data from the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) at Duke University (n=4,132) to estimate 10-year prevalence, incidence and predictors of living alone for older Blacks or Whites. New episodes of living alone were equally likely. Black older people's lower prevalence of living alone was a function of their 80% greater probability of a new co-resident episode. Home ownership, residential tenure, and perceived good health were lower among Blacks living alone, compared to Whites, who had fewer living children. Stressful life events had similar effects on household size. Race differences in late life household size were thus primarily dependent on decisions embedded in mid-life. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-020516204 A
Classmark	TKE: TKA: BG6: K8: 3F: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.