Migration in later life: evidence from the British Household Panel Study

Abstract

This article uses data from the British Household Panel Study over the period 1991 -2007 to examine the factors associated with residential mobility among people aged 50 and over. In line with earlier research, the likelihood of migrating, that is, changing address, is found to vary according to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the older person. Those in late middle age (50-59) and the oldest-old (90 and over) were most likely to move. Migration was also strongly associated with changes in partnership, health and economic status during the last 12 months, highlighting the importance of seeing migration within a life course context with certain life course events such as divorce, widowhood or retirement being important triggers for prompting a move. As divorce and remarriage become more common in later life, 'relationship driven migration' is likely to become more important, adding a new category to the classical typology of later life migration.

Mobility biographies: A review of achievements and challenges of the mobility biographies approach and a framework for further research

“…A decrease in such trips is observed only for those aged 75 years and older. Retirement is sometimes associated with migration (Evandrou et al, 2010), which precipitates additional changes and, therefore, further opportunities for changing travel behaviour.…”

Internal migration, area effects and health: Does where you move to impact upon your health?

“…This allowed a stable and accurate model to be built and tested. This approach has been useful in previous migration research (Evandrou et al, 2010). There were 1789 migrations in the data (8.6%), although only 1259 individuals contained geographical data at both time points (see Supplementary Table 1 for the cross-classification of migrations between area type).…”

“…29.6% (529) of individuals migrated more than once. However, any issues this will create are likely to be offset by the advantages of having a greater sample size (Evandrou et al, 2010). Effectively tripling the data set gives greater power when running models, keeping the standard errors lower and providing more accurate results.…”

Stabilitás és változás az idősek háztartásszerkezetében

“…Az egészségi állapot megromlása is állhat a háztartásszerkezeti változások mögött, hiszen a magát ellátni képtelen egyedül élő szülő újra összeköltözhet gyermekeivel, esetleg intézetbe is kerülhet (Dostie -Léger 2015). A fiatalabbak körében pedig szerepet játszhat a gyermekek szülői házból való kiköltözése is, amely után az idősödő szülők magukra maradnak (ezekről lásd Evandrou et al 2001, Mutchler -Burr 1991, Boersch-Supan et al 1988.…”