As Perceived Distance To Death Shrinks The Desire To Age In Place Grows
Most older people want to age in place
Older people are not interested in moving from their current homes. In fact, they change their addresses less frequently than at any other time in their lives and the reasons they stay put is because there is so much at stake.
The places where they age in place—their dwellings, neighborhoods, and communities—influence their ability to fully enjoy their later years and to live independently even with health declines or disabilities.
But these residential decisions don’t just affect them.
The demand for senior care facilities, like assisted living, declines when older people opt to deal with their frailties in their own homes. Family members also feel increased pressure when they are called on to serve as caregivers. And when older people age in place and don’t move, it’s harder for younger families to find homes to buy.
There are some benefits to some products and services though. Those that sell home modifications, smart home technology, home services or home refinancing options all tend to profit from these decisions.
Older people stay put despite significant life changes
The aging-in-place behaviors of older people always have perplexed experts. They don’t understand why they would stay when there are so many things that could motivate a move;
They no longer need to live near their workplaces or tolerate another ugly winter.
They could move to places with more stimulating leisure and recreational opportunities.
There may be safer, friendlier, newer, or more walkable neighborhoods then where they currently live.
If living alone following the death of a spouse or partner, this could make their home feel like an empty and lonely shell.
They could have difficulties maintaining their homes or have limited access to shopping or healthcare.
The death of a partner could make their home unaffordable - especially in places with rising taxes and property insurance.
Health challenges and disabilities may make a dwelling physically and financially burdensome to maintain, difficult to access (e.g., heights, stairs), or unsafe (e.g., fall risks).
Health declines and disabilities could result in people feeling insecure if they do not have enough support to live independently.
Now make no mistake, many older people do indeed move in response to these happenings. Still, the fact remains that most opt to age in place. To help explain this enigma, I turned perhaps to a surprising source, a life-span theory of motivation authored by Stanford psychology professor Laura Carstensen.
A different interpretation of life transitions: a quick psychological primer
The socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) argues that as people get chronologically older, they recognize that they are closer to death and differently envision how they want to spend their future lives.
Specifically, they are reluctant to pursue goals and activities that require physically and emotionally trying preparations, but then only result in positive outcomes or rewards in the long-term or more distant future.
These “preparations” include learning new information, acquiring new experiences, and investigating future opportunities. Older people instead prioritize goals and activities that result in positive, high quality, meaningful, and gratifying emotional experiences in the here and now.
In academic jargon, they strive to achieve a higher ratio of positive to negative emotions in their current lives rather than in some nebulous future—what SST refers to as achieving a "positivity effect. "
In a recent paper, I argued that SST offers a new perspective on how older people make their residential decisions.
Unlike the experts, older people do not always view their homes as becoming less desirable because of life events that disrupt their lifestyles or threaten their ability to live independently. Additionally, they interpret these life transitions as signs or cues that they have a more limited time left to live. But because of these distance to death perceptions, they appraise their residential abodes not less but more favorably. Despite all the obvious motivations to move, they are incentivized to age in place.
Here are the reasons for my thinking;
Moving is hard work that mainly has only long-term rewards
Moving to a new residence often requires time-consuming, stressful, unpleasant, and financially costly preparations. Older people must search out housing possibilities, scrutinize their pros and cons, and settle on a final selection. If selling their homes, they must find a real estate broker, lawyer, prepare their dwellings for viewing, and pay real estate transaction costs. They must pay handymen to make physical repairs and tolerate strangers in their houses. They must secure and pay for a moving company and endure the typical moving day stresses. They must also disrupt their customary activities and routines by severing longstanding and reliable ties with their shops, restaurants, clubs, religious organizations, and healthcare providers.
When they finally do settle in their new destination, they must replace these once taken-for-granted familiar vendors and service providers and set up new mail, cable, and utility connections. It will take months or even longer for older people to feel at home in their new destination.
This large upfront investment of time, energy, and money can feel overwhelming to older people when they perceive a limited time left to live. Consequently, even when they expect a change in residence to improve their lives, they balk at moving because they will only reap the full benefits in a more distant future.
Older people are reluctant to sever emotional attachments to homes
After living in the same place for many years, older people have become emotionally attached to their homes. Over this period, they have witnessed many momentous milestones and positive experiences. As a result, they imbue their homes with all kinds of personal meanings.
These spur older people to reminisce about their lives, feel a sense of continuity with their pasts and remember their past accomplishments and successes. They view their accumulated material possessions as nothing less than treasured archeological evidence that showcases and celebrates their earlier lives.
It would take a long time for older people to re-create comparable emotional attachments in any future homes. Consequently, when they perceive a limited time left to live, moving becomes an unattractive choice.
Older people are wary of severing their social connections
Older people who move risk losing something even more critical—their relationships with friends, neighbors, and sometimes family.
These social bonds often explain why they are so satisfied with where they live even as they must deal with other housing shortcomings. Over time, older people have typically reduced the number of these social ties.
As SST explains, when older people perceive death as nearer, they invest their time and energy in persons they value the most. These bonds, built on trust, acceptance, intimacy, and emotional closeness, would be difficult to replicate in a new moving destination.
Their self-concepts, that is, how they perceive themselves as individuals, also would take a hit in a new locale. Here, others know little about their personal histories and idiosyncratic likes or dislikes.
Consequently, older people must convince potential social acquaintances that they have had valuable, productive, and meaningful lives. Educating others can be both time-consuming and stressful. In so doing, older people have to reflect on their own accomplishments and successes. But then they risk having their own self-doubts about whether they have had successful lives. It can take many months or even years (if ever) for older people to establish new and emotionally meaningful social relationships.
This is a highly unattractive scenario when they perceive a limited time left to live.
Older people strive to feel positive about where they live
As people age, they typically report being more satisfied with where they live. As they become aware of their limited time left to live, they strive to preserve this "positivity effect"—in three ways.
First, they remember their most pleasurable, enjoyable, and meaningful home experiences—such as the good times with their family, friends, or neighbors. Second, they adapt their residential settings to fit their new needs. They streamline their activities and routines to patronize only their most reliable vendors and service providers; and they make home modifications or seek personal assistance to cope with their health declines and disabilities. Third, they rely on cognitive or mind strategies to make things better—they deny or overlook the shortcomings of where they live.
All these efforts produce immediate and positive emotional payoffs—crucial when they have limited time horizons.
No theory explains everything
I believe there is a strong case for why older people are motivated to age in place when they have a heightened awareness of the finitude of their lives.
But let’s be clear—all theories have caveats.
Some older people react differently to their limited time horizons. Those in good health and with higher incomes may not consider moving as “hard work”—their residential transitions are more effortless and emotional payoffs more immediate.
At the other extreme, seniors experiencing physical or mental declines may urgently require the help offered in supportive care settings, such as assisted living or nursing homes.
Other older people may reap immediate rewards when they move. They occupy places where they earlier vacationed and already have friends and community connections. Still others get instant gratification when they move into a loving adult daughter’s house or occupy an active adult community with turnkey social networks and leisure opportunities. And perceiving that death is near will actually motivate the moves of other seniors. They seek to fulfill their bucket list of unrealized activities and experiences in another locale.
The aging in place behaviors of other older people will have little to do with their distance to death perceptions. They often feel trapped in their current abodes because they can’t afford their preferred housing or care options. Others will stay put to accommodate an unemployed child or to bequest their dwellings to their families.
Distance to death perceptions make residential decisions challenging
Focusing on the distance to death perceptions of older adults shows why their residential decisions can be so painfully complicated and stressful. On the one hand, their life-changing events motivate them to seek new housing and care accommodations. On the other hand, because these events signify their limited time left to live, they are instead motivated to age in place. Consequently, older people must weigh the merits of two diametrically opposite sets of motives and decide between two very different residential futures.
The COVID19 pandemic may further sway their future outlooks. Older people are hearing loud and clear that they are at greater risk of dying. This undoubtedly has heightened their distance to death perceptions and has potentially made them even more reluctant to move.
Answers more critical in the future
Deciding on the right place to live later in life is rarely easy or straightforward. Going forward, it will become even more important to understand how the distance to death perceptions of older people frame their future residential decisions. Demographers confirm that our senior population will soon become top-heavy with those in their 70s and older—who will be more aware of their end game.
Dr. Golant spent some time with us discussing his research in aging in place and shared this plus some recommendations on how we should approach this as we age. Here's our discussion:
About the author
Stephen M. Golant, Ph.D., is a leading national speaker, author, and researcher on the housing, mobility, transportation, and long-term care needs of older adult populations. He is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, a Fulbright Senior Scholar award recipient, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida. Golant’s latest book is Aging in The Right Place, published by Health Professions Press. Contact him at [email protected]
