Living Arrangements and Aging: Changes and Determinants in Living Arrangements of Older Persons in Mexico, 1992-2006

Verónica Z. Montes de Oca Zavala, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales / Universidad Nacional Autónoma México
Sagrario Garay, Facultad de Trabajo Social y Desarrollo Humano (UANL)

Our objective is to analyze the main trends and changes in living arrangements with older people. We are also interested in showing the influence of diverse sociodemographic variables on the living arrangements for elderly people. Methods: We used similar sources of data from the National Demographic Dynamic Survey for 1992, 1997 and 2006. We considered two levels of analysis: household and individual level. In the first level, we show trends, changes and composition of households in Mexico. With the individual level we analyze the characteristics of older persons and we calculated a multinomial logistic model for determining the influence of diverse variables on living arrangements. Findings: there is an important increase in the percentage of households with single elderly people; men have greater probabilities to live in nuclear and extended families than women; elderly people with low socioeconomic backgrounds have a greater probability of living alone than others.