THE PERCEPTIONS OF ELDERLY PATIENTS ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF DISCONTINUING THEIR CORESIDENCE WITH ADULT CHILDREN

In the United States, it is not uncommon for older adults (age 65 year s or over) to live in the same households with adult children. Yet we know very little about the quality and dynamics of the interpersonal r elationships within such households. In this investigation, older adul ts (N = 192) coresiding with adult children respond to a series of hyp othetical questions about how their lives might change if they no long er lived with those children. Results indicate that the majority of pa rents anticipate no change in most aspects of their lives. Among those who anticipate a change, most indicate that their lives would be wors e. Bivariate comparisons identify parent, child, and household charact eristics that are associated with more negative expectations; however, in multivariate analyses, the marital status of the parents had the m ost significant and pervasive influence on the attitudes that were exp ressed, with unmarried elders more likely to anticipate a negative imp act.