Dynamics of Elderly Mexican American Living Arrangements

This study examines the living arrangements and transitions of elderly Mexican Americans using data over a 14 year period from the Hispanic Established Population for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly. While elderly Mexican Americans are more likely than non-Hispanics to rely on family for their long-term care needs, much less in known about how this relationship changes over the elderly life course. This study moves beyond prior research by examining the stability of elderly Mexican American living arrangements, exploring the role of nativity and disability in shaping living arrangement experiences. We find that despite being more likely to live with others as a dependent, foreign-born Mexican Americans are more likely to experience living arrangement instability than their U.S.-born counterparts. In addition, survival analyses predicting the time to first transition indicate that once disability and cognitive impairment are taken into consideration, the protective effects of being foreign-born are no longer significant. PAA Extended Abstract Submission Prickett & Angel