Tesi doctoral - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geografia ; Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics, 2013

Inclou bibliografia i annexos.

In the industrialised countries, the longevity increase has lead into the extension of the time that elderly people remain in their homes. Whether de facto or by election, the reality is that the vast majority of older people are living in a private accommodation until a severe decline in health status forces a move towards a nursing institution. This experience, the fact to remain at home in later life, has been conceptualised as ‘Ageing in Place’ or ‘Independent Living’. This thesis has utilised the ‘ageing in place’ concept to explore the multidimensional relationship among older people and their living environment that permit them to remain at home despite changes in their living conditions due to ageing process. The aim has been to analyse how independent living is attained, what are its caracteristics and strategies that shape its development, and what the mechanisms enhance it. Given that ‘Ageing in Place’ notion have been used simoutanoeusly in the scientific field and in the institutional ambit, that has convert it in the mainstrean term under which present the social, care and housing policies in Europe, the emergents debates from this dichotomy are a central part of this investigation. All in all, the questions that this thesis sets out are “what we are talking about when we talk about ageing in place’ and “which factors that condition the ageing in palce experience?”. Focused in the European context, this thesis performs a cross-national analysis among the EU15 countries, exploring four components of Ageing in Place experience. The study of the demographic component aims to caractherise the profiles of those elderly people that remain living at home, quantifiying the magnitude of the phenomenon and highlighting the similarities and divergences among regions. The residential component analyse the living conditions of older Europeans, besides to analyse to what extent these conditions shape the residential satisfaction in later life. The social component of Ageing in Place is analysed idetifiying the support mechanisms, both formal or informal, that help older people to remain living in their own home. The role of family networks is essential in care provission, reason why family ties is a core aspect of the analysis. This thesis also aims to shed light on the individual component of ageing in place, investigating about the aspects that condition the ideal images that older people maintain about the best enviroment to growing older; in the own home, co-residing with a relative or in an institution. The spatial scope of this last analysis only consider one country: Spain. The two main data sources used are cross-European: Survey of Ageing, Retirement and Health in Europe (SHARE) and the European Union Statistics of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), allowing the cross-national perspective. The objective is to assess if the North-South gradient based in the development of welfare states and the socio-cultural diversity in family relationships determine the way older people is ageing at home in the different regions of the continent. The empirical analysis is developed by means of multivariate techniques, from Logistic Regression models, to distinct applications of Discrete Choice Models, as Logit or Probit. The empirical results obtained invite to reflect about ageing, the new identities of older people and the discourses generated by demographic change. This work also contributes to the debate about the role that families and states have on well-being in later life.