This thesis addresses the issue of comfortable and functional living
environments to provide seniors with opportunities for "age in place," that is, living in
one's own house after retirement. Such living environments enhance seniors' life
satisfaction since the majority of seniors prefer to stay in their own houses and live
independently. In order to create suitable environments for seniors, professionals need
to examine the relationships between seniors' housing behaviors and their living
environments. Studying seniors' housing behaviors is particularly timely now as the
first generation of baby boomers enters retirement and begins making increasingly
large demands for adequate housing. This exigency emphasizes the urgent need for
attention and understanding toward seniors' housing behaviors. This thesis
investigates two groups of factors- physical abilities and medical conditions - which
influence seniors' housing behaviors, examines characteristics of the groups, and
compares the influences of the groups on seniors' housing behaviors according to
hypotheses that the more problems the elderly have, the more effect these problems
will have on adapting or changing housing. The thesis used data collected by Eleanor
Palo Stoller, Ph.D. (with the support of a grant from the National Institute on Aging)
from subjects who were elderly Finnish American retirees and other European
American retirees in Florida. The results supported the assumption that the more
functional and health problems the elderly have, the more changes the elderly will
make to their houses. The thesis suggests further areas for research and ways to
enhance seniors' housing arrangements. / Graduation date: 2005
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29790 |
| Date | 09 June 2004 |
| Creators | Yamamoto, Toshiko |
| Contributors | Douglass, Victoria S. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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