Leaving Home: An Examination of Late‐Life Relocation Among Older Adults

Demographic trends over the last century in the United States reflect a dramatic population shift. The number of older adults (aged 65 years and above) has tripled from just over 4% of the population in 1900 to 12.8% in 2008 (Administration on Aging [AoA], 2009). Within the next 20 years, close to one fifth (19.3%) of the U.S. population is expected to be over 65 years old (AoA, 2009). The cohort of older adults itself is also aging rapidly, with the biggest shifts occurring among adults over age 85. At 5.7 million persons, this group is 47 times larger than it was at the start of the 20th century (AoA, 2009). In light of an American landscape increasingly characterized by an older demographic, there is a call now, more than ever before, for counselors to be educated about both the specific mental health concerns and the developmental and contextual issues facing this unique population. Historically, older adults have been underserved by counseling professionals (Gatz & Stayer, 2001; Myers & Harper, 2004; Myers & Schwiebert, 1996). Although they make up 12.4% of the population (AoA, 2007), older adults receive only 2% of private mental health services, 6% to 8% of community mental health services, and 7% of inpatient mental health services (Barrels & Stayer, 2002; Myers & Harper, 2004; Robb, Chen, & Haley, 2002). When untreated, diagnosable mental health disorders in older adults are related to lower levels of functioning and life satisfaction, higher levels of stress among caregivers, and higher mortality rates (Swett & Bishop, 2003; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, 1999). In addition to diagnosable disorders, older adults face numerous developmental transitions that may require counseling intervention, including retirement, parenting grandchildren, and managing multiple losses (Broderick & Blewitt, 2003; Myers & Harper, 2004; Myers & Schwiebert, 1996). A developmental transition that has received little attention from counseling professionals, however, is late-life relocation (Krout & Wethington, 2003). Relocation involves more than just the move itself; it begins with the circumstances and decision-making process surrounding a move and extends to the adjustment period after the move (Johnson & Hlava, 1994). The middle-old to older-old population (aged 75 years and above) is especially likely to experience a late-life relocation to long-term health care settings (e.g., nursing homes, which provide 24-hour health care, and assisted living facilities [ALFs], which provide support with activities of daily living). The AoA (2009) reported that 4.4% of individuals ages 75 to 84 years live in such settings, and the number increases to 15.4% for those over 85 years. When demographic trends toward an aging older adult cohort are coupled with statistics indicating that older-old adults (85 years or more) are increasingly likely to experience a residential relocation, the importance of examining late-life transition emerges. Of particular interest to counselors is that little is known about the lived experience of late-life transition and its impact on older individuals' mental health (Krout & Wethington, 2003). Understanding more about the psychogenic issues associated with late-life transitions is important for many reasons. First, developmental opportunities present in late-life transitions are mediated by the presence of intrapersonal and environmental elements that either support (i.e., protect) or hinder the growth process (Bronfenbrenner, 2005), and research points toward numerous risks related to relocation. In general, relocation transitions are among the top 10 life stressors for people of any age (Mead, Eckert, Zimmerman, & Schumacher, 2005) and are associated with loss of social support systems and fear of the unknown (Drummet, Colemen, & Cable, 2003). …