title: Social resources and disordered living conditions: evidence from a national sample of community-residing older adults.
abstract: For older adults aging in the community, living conditions can promote health, enhance coping, and reduce disablement--but they can also create stress and increase risks of illness, accidents, and decline. Although socioeconomic disparities in housing likely contribute to inequalities in interior conditions, I argue that living conditions are also shaped by social resources such as coresidential relationships, social network ties, and social support. In this article, I examine the distribution of a set of risky or stressful physical and ambient living conditions including structural disrepair, clutter, lack of cleanliness, noise, and odor. Using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), I find that low-income and African American older adults have more disordered living conditions as do those with poorer physical and mental health. In addition, older adults who have a coresident partner, more nonresidential network ties, and more sources of instrumental support are exposed to fewer risky or harmful living conditions. This suggests that living conditions are an important, though overlooked, mechanism through which household composition, social networks, and social support affect health and well-being in later life.
authors: Department of Sociology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA eyc46@cornell.edu.
authors: Erin
authors: E
authors: York Cornwell
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012934:Social Isolation; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States
keywords: aging in place; household composition; housing; marriage/partnership; social inequality; social networks; social support
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