Full Citation

Title: Residential Mobility, Migration, and Life-Course Change: A Study of Family, Work, and Mobility in Later Mid-Life

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 1998

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Abstract: In the past 50 years, structural changes have occurred in the social institutions of work and the family, changing our perceptions of work and retirement. At the same time, increases in life expectancy and better health at older ages suggest that adults currently at mid-life will live longer and healthier lives, a growing proportion of which will be without child- or job-related commitments. Data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) and Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) are used to describe the ways in which the family and work characteristics of those in later mid-life have changed over the past 50 years and to examine the relationship between family change work change, and mobility in later mid-life. This research extends the literature on mobility, family, and work in two ways. First, while previous studies have generally focused on the differences between stayers and local movers (or stayers and long distance migrants), this study examines all three possibilities (stayer, local mover, long distance migrant). Second, this research examines the relationship between two later mid-life transitions--specifically, changes in the presence of adult children in the home and changes in work status--and mobility behavior. The results suggest that both family and work play important roles in shaping mobility in later mid-life. Although we tend to assume that changes in the family life cycle are associated with local mobility, this relationship appears to be more complex for adults in later mid-life who have adult children leaving home: Changes in the presence of adult children in the home and work status change are both significant predictors of long-distance mobility. These results extend the existing literature on mobility by demonstrating differences in the effects adult children at home and work status change on local and long-distance mobility. The results also demonstrate that these two factors have relatively independent effects on mobility behavior. Future research should focus on the relationship between life course change and mobility in later life so that researchers and planners may better understand the forces shaping the spatial distribution of older persons.

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Authors: Bures, Regina M.

Institution: Brown University

Department: Sociology

Advisor: Frances K. Goldscheider

Degree: Doctor in Philosophy

Publisher Location: Providence, RI

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration

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