Going It Alone in Later Life: A Comparative Analysis of Elderly Women in Sweden and Spain

Abstract

This article compares the determinants of living alone in later life in Spain and Sweden, two countries with relatively similar levels of economic development from a global view point but different family systems and institutional contexts. With microdata coming from census (Spain) and linked administrative registers (Sweden), logistic regression techniques, including a nonlinear regression–based decomposition of differences between, are used to estimate the weight of different factors behind the residential choices of elderly women. Theoretical expectations are validated. Levels of living alone are associated with age, childlessness, marital status, and education in both populations. Population characteristics (compositions effects) explain only a small part of the differences in living alone between both countries, while behaviors (rate effects) account for the larger part of the variation. Therefore, among elderly women proximate determinants of living arrangements produce different outcomes in different sociocultural environments largely determined by existing family systems.

Living Alone in Later Life: A Global Perspective

“…Within the models themselves, this decline in single living among the oldest populations may represent residential choices based on alternate, often non‐family living arrangements, at least in countries with ample institutional options (Padyab et al. ).…”

“…Part of the success of living alone visible in the more developed countries is related to preferences and health, while another part is likely to be linked to institutional outreach—including several forms of partial assisted living—that helps the elderly live on their own longer, much as has been seen in Sweden and in other developed societies (Padyab et al. ).…”

“…Other things being equal, living alone will always be more prevalent in societies where individual values pertain and lower where they do not (Padyab et al. ). Early in the process of aging, even people living alone may perceive the family and family contact as a key part of the quality of their lives.…”

“…While some analysts see an inevitable pattern at work whereby familial interventions will eventually be replaced everywhere by policy‐based responses to aging, in fact there are all kinds of patterns and combinations in existence throughout the world (Padyab et al. ). Any wide selection of countries will include some where there is little or no public intervention in later life and others where state‐based interventions are paramount.…”

Living Alone over the Life Course: Cross‐National Variations on an Emerging Issue

“…Diversity within Europe is a clear example of this pattern (Reher ; Reher and Requena ; Padyab et al. ). It is impossible to understand living alone properly without understanding the way it affects and is affected by prevailing family systems.…”