Living Alone among Older Persons in Uganda: Prevalence and Associated Factors

This study aimed at investigating the prevalence and factors associated with living alone among older persons in Uganda. A secondary analysis of the 2010 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) data was conducted. A complementary log-log regression model was used to estimate the association between living alone and demographic, socio-economic and health factors. Nearly one out of ten (9%) older persons lived alone in Uganda. Living alone was associated with being divorced / separated (OR 18.5, 95% CI: 10.3–33.3), being widowed (OR 8.8, 95% CI: 5.1–15.2), advanced age (OR 2.1, 95% CI: 1.4–3.2), residence in western region (OR 0.6, 95% CI: 0.3–0.93), poor wealth status (OR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2–06), receiving remittances (OR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1–2.3) and being disabled (OR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.2–2.1). Living alone among older persons did not vary by gender.

Does a House Divided Stand? Kinship and the Continuity of Shared Living Arrangements

Shared living arrangements can provide housing, economies of scale, and other instrumental support and may become an important resource in times of economic constraint. But the extent to which such living arrangements experience continuity or rapid change in composition is unclear. Previous research on extended-family households tended to focus on factors that trigger the onset of coresidence, including life course events or changes in health status and related economic needs. Relying on longitudinal data from 9,932 households in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), the analyses demonstrate that the distribution of economic resources in the household also influences the continuity of shared living arrangements. The results suggest that multigenerational households of parents and adult children experience greater continuity in composition when one individual or couple has a disproportionate share of the economic resources in the household. Other coresidential households, those shared by other kin or nonkin, experience greater continuity when resources are more evenly distributed.

Immigration and living arrangements: moving beyond economic need versus acculturation

Prior research seeking to explain variation in extended family coresidence focused heavily on the potentially competing roles of cultural preferences and socioeconomic and demographic structural constraints. We focus on challenges associated with international immigration as an additional factor driving variation across groups. Using 2000 census data from Mexico and the United States, we compare the prevalence and age patterns of various types of extended family and non-kin living arrangements among Mexican-origin immigrants and nonimmigrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, we use the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine the stability of extended family living arrangements among Mexican-origin immigrants and natives in the United States. We find that newly arrived immigrants to the United States display unique patterns in the composition and stability of their households relative to nonimmigrants in both Mexico and the United States. Recent immigrants are more likely to reside in an extended family or non-kin household, and among those living with relatives, recent immigrants are more likely to live with extended family from a similar generation (such as siblings and cousins). Further, these households experience high levels of turnover. The results suggest that the high levels of coresidence observed among recently arrived Mexican immigrants represent a departure from "traditional" household/family structures in Mexico and are related to the challenges associated with international migration.

A case study of the elder care functions of a Chilean non-governmental organization

This paper examines the history and role of a faith-based Chilean nonprofit organization, Hogar de Cristo (Christ's Home), in providing elderly care in the context of recent economic and sociopolitical changes in the country. Chile has been at the forefront of market-based reforms in the delivery of social services and its experience provides insights into the intersecting roles of the state, the market, and the non-governmental sector in addressing basic human needs. Based on in-depth interviews, archival data, and field observations, we investigate the institutional, political, and social factors that account for the organization's success. These result from a number of factors including a capacity to adapt to changing client needs, the successful adoption of an entrepreneurial style of management and outreach, and the building of trust through effective public relations. Although conditions unique to the situation of this faith-based organization in a highly Catholic country may account for its success, the experience of Hogar de Cristo provides useful lessons for the future of elder care policy in the Americas.