Health and motivation of elderly relocating to a suburban area in Japan.
In Japan, few studies have investigated the effects of moving residence among the elderly, despite the fact that Japanese elderly will be increasingly required to switch residence in the future. Here, we used representative sampling to examine the characteristics of elderly persons who had moved residence to a Tokyo suburb and compared results with those of non-moving residents of the suburb. Movers aged 65 years old or older who had relocated within the previous 2 years (movers) and residents aged 65 years old or older and had lived in the area longer than 5 years (non-movers) were surveyed by mail in 2004, with a focus on health and psychosocial measures. Compared with non-movers (N=117), movers (N=97) were more depressed, socially isolated, and fulfilled less active social roles among family members. The majority of movers had moved to find affordable housing or to live with or near family. Two factors preceded co-residence with family, namely retirement and imminent loss of functional independence. Our findings suggest that movers require community support to prevent social isolation, dependency and health declines.
Saito
Tami
T
Department of Social Gerontology, School of Health Sciences and Nursing, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. tami@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Lee
Hyungjung
H
Kai
Ichiro
I
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D004467:Economics; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D011157:Population Dynamics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011584:Psychology