Living Arrangements of People Aged 65 and Older: Findings From 1968 Survey of the Aged

THE REASONS that aged persons live independently or together with relatives are many and varied. There are financial and emotional motivations and factors related to health and convenience as well. The 1968 Social Security Survey of the Demographic and Economic Chxrncteristics of the Aged (DECA) provides a coherent and relatively recent body of data on the living arrangements of the population aged 65 and over and on certain financial aspects of these arrangements. Though no direct information was obtained on attitudes, the differences in income and homeownership associated with the living arrangements bear on financial motivations. Living arrangements, as presented here, are defined first by whether an aged couple or an aged person without, a spouse is living in the same household as a relative or is living apart from relatives and, second, by further breakdowns within these two types of arrangements. The first section focuses on demographic factors associated with living arrangements of older perSOllS : age, marital status, relationship to honsehold head, race, and place of residence. The second examines differences in the size and source of income and the homeownership rate for units living alone or with relatives. For the units classified as living with relatives, the arrangement may often seem so natural as not to require a reason or explanation: a single adult child or a newly married son or daughter continues to live in the parents’ household; siblings live together for companionship and convenience ; a widowed mother moves in with her working daughter when her health begins to fail or the daughter needs help with child care or household chores. The specific situations are endless. In general, strains are most often recognized when the dependent, parent moves in with a son or daughter that, has a yo~mg and growing family. Whatever the situation, living t,ogether does have its financial aspect. The older person (or