The goal of this project is to investigate possession management, disposition, and disposal as an adaptation to the vulnerabilities of age when people move to smaller quarters in later life. The accomplishment of these tasks can free elders to continue to live independently and in more suitable housing. Having gained a descriptive facility with the topic and clarified research procedure during a R03-type pilot study, the next venture is a qualitative interview study of the experience, strategies, and self-representations that older people employ to assist the downsizing of the household. For its overall theoretical framework, the research will undertake a domain-specific application of the Baltes model of selective optimization with compensation, framing the downsizing as a problem of human development that evokes the exercise of agency amid declining capacities and reduced resources.
Specific aims are to: (1) Describe the strategies and emotions of household downsizing as perceived by those who accomplish a move;(2) Confirm the developmental character of such episodes by examining move circumstances as practical contexts for the de-accumulation of possessions;(3) Identify the heuristics- mental shortcuts-that people use to disband under constraints of limited time and knowledge;(4) Describe self-representations and explore their role as resources for the accomplishment of dispossession;and (5) Characterize downsizing in process among a subset of cases as they undertake, organize, and sequence possession management. Investigators with expertise in the study of life reorganization will conduct a two-site study in areas around Lawrence, Kansas, and Detroit, Michigan. There will be a unitary design for all data collection, management, and analysis. The units of analysis will be 150 households that will have downsized for a residential move. Project recruitment will capture a range of naturally occurring types. Staff will conduct semi-structured interviews within 100 households of older persons (age 65 and older) who have moved to smaller quarters in the last four to eight months. In addition, there will be interviews in another 50 households twice before and once after the move as people actually confront the tasks at hand. The analysis of informants'accounts will clarify how individuals motivate, execute, and evaluate these transitions. This project, which directly addresses needs voiced by housing specialists and clinicians, will advance a more inclusive research program on possession management and divestiture as adaptive for incipient or anticipated limitations. The project will generate practical information for the public and for health and social service professionals that can be applied to catalyze disbandment and facilitate residential relocation as a means to better self care.
This project illuminates the various practices that older adults use to downsize their households for a residential move, a process that allows them to relocate to housing and living arrangements where they can live independently, better manage health limitations, and maintain vitality. Findings of this study will be of widespread interest and assistance to the general public of aged and aging adults and to geriatric care managers, health personnel, social service providers, housing specialists, and attorneys.
