Why Rotational Living Is Bad for Older Adults? Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in India

Despite the adverse impact of old age on their health, the vulnerable older adults tend to live with their adult children in a shared living arrangement. Since fewer children being available to care for and the traditional family-based care is becoming less common, the present study investigates what are the factors that lead to rotational living arrangement in later ages and examines the health outcomes of older adults who rotationally live with their adult children. Using data from Building Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India (BKPAI), we employed bivariate and logistic regression on a sample of 4952 older adults to carve out the results. About 13.5% of the older adults were rotationally living in India. Rotationally living older adults were significantly more likely to have low psychological health [OR: 1.31, CI: 1.02-1.71] low subjective well-being [OR: 1.55, CI: 1.21-1.98] and poor self-rated health [OR: 1.56, CI: 1.26-1.23] than were constant stayers with a single child. While the feelings of care-giving burden often outweigh the support exchanges among children, the rotational living results in the worsening of health status among older adults. Thus, the attention must be paid to promote effective co-residence in old age with adult children on a shared basis without affecting their health through several polices and financial incentives. The adult children who take care of their older parents should be provided more assistance to ease their increased responsibility for caregiving.

Automated summary

Despite the adverse impact of old age on their health, vulnerable older adults tend to live with their adult children in a shared living arrangement. The study finds that rotational living arrangement in later ages can lead to lower psychological health, lower subjective well-being, and poor self-rated health among older adults. The attention must be paid to promote effective co-residence in old age with adult children without affecting their health through policies and financial incentives. Adult children taking care of their older parents should be provided more assistance to ease their increased responsibility for caregiving.