Feeling about living arrangements and associated health outcomes among older adults in India: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction Advancement in the field of gerontology has been concerned with the well-being of older adults in a family setup that is associated with caregiving and support. While family life and well-being are defined by emotion, caregiving, and support activities, dissatisfaction/discontent with living arrangements is a public health concern, which is increasing with a rise in the proportion of the older population in the country. The study examines the association of dissatisfaction with living arrangements with health outcomes among older men and women in India. Methods The present research used data from the 'Building a Knowledge Base on Population Aging in India'. The effective sample size for the analysis was 9181 older adults. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were performed to present the preliminary estimates. For finding the association between various health outcomes over explanatory variables, binary logistic regression model was used separately for men and women. Results About 22.8% of men and 30.8% of women who were living alone were dissatisfied with their present living arrangement. It was revealed that both men and women who were dissatisfied with their present living arrangements had significantly higher odds of experiencing poor self-rated health [OR:4.45, 3.25 ~ 6.09 and OR:3.32, 2.54 ~ 4.34], low psychological health [OR: 2.15, 1.61 ~ 2.86 and OR: 1.99, 1.57 ~ 2.53], low subjective well-being [OR: 3.37, 2.54 ~ 4.45 and OR: 3.03, 2.36 ~ 3.38], low ADL [OR: 1.77, 1.2 ~ 2.62 and OR: 1.59, 1.17 ~ 2.18, low IADL] [OR: 1.32, 1.03 ~ 1.69 and OR: 1.57, 1.24 ~ 1.98] and low cognitive ability [OR: 1.26, 0.98 ~ 1.61 and OR:1.44, 1.13 ~ 1.82] in comparison to their counterpart from men and women respectively. Conclusion It is found that dissatisfaction with the living arrangement of older men and women is negatively associated with major health outcomes. Hence, appropriate policies and programs must be developed to promote increased family care and support and an improved residential environment that would create a feeling of comfort and happiness among older individuals.

Morbidity status and changes in difficulty in activities of daily living among older adults in India: A panel data analysis

“…Further, in the present study, functional difficulty is observed higher among currently unmarried respondents including widows. This supports the notion that in India where women have traditionally depended on the spouses for support, widowhood may have considerable negative impact on their socioeconomic and health status [ 41 , 66 ]. The older people from the poorest and BPL category had a higher onset of functional difficulty compared to the richest and non-BPL population.…”

The association of widowhood and living alone with depression among older adults in India

“…Also, the interactive effect of marital status and living arrangement with depression was concordant with a recent study in Japan that has shown the adverse impact of both widowhood and living alone on depressive symptoms 52 . The possible explanation for the negative effect of widowhood on psychological wellbeing may be the increased stress due to spousal loss that results in reduced emotional support and lack of financial support 53,54 . Also, as documented, solo-living older individuals are less likely to have a family or close friends to talk to and are thus more likely to have a strong sense of loneliness resulting in depression [55][56][57] .…”

Social support moderates the association of functional difficulty with major depression among community-dwelling older adults: evidence from LASI, 2017–18

“…In Indian context, family is an institution which lays the seeds of social cohesion and provides social security and economic support to the older population. Also, residing with family is most preferred and satisfactory living arrangement among older people in India which is associated with improved psychological wellbeing [ 23 – 25 ]. A recent study in India found that older adults who lived alone and were widowed had higher chances of depression [ 26 ].…”