Predictors of non-local moves among older adults: a prospective study.
OBJECTIVE
The goal of this article was to test a series of established predictors of the hazard of moving for persons primarily in their 50s and 60s. We tested demographic covariates, resources, travel experience, and community and person ties using a prospective design.


METHODS
We employed data from the Health and Retirement Study, 1994 to 2002, based on a representative sample of households containing at least one member aged 51 to 61 in 1992. We employed measures available in the Health and Retirement Study to construct a series of Cox proportional hazards models that examined the causes of non-local moves.


RESULTS
Community and person ties emerged as important predictors of non-local moves.


CONCLUSIONS
Travel experience, when measured by regular vacationing and second homes, may increase community ties to a destination. The life-course model must be modified in its explanation of the importance of community and person ties, and of life transitions, as motivators of migration.
Longino
Charles F
CF
Reynolda Gerontology Program, Box 7808, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA. longino@wfu.edu
Bradley
Don E
DE
Stoller
Eleanor P
EP
Haas
William H
WH
D000368:Aged; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014195:Travel